oo 
.    « 


and  decorations  by 

^^^^^T  I  .^"vV        ~n_/  ^O  ^^^ 


(i  ••'""    ''••  ft  .--^ 

*\  /^j 


1907 


Frontispiece 

"  'But   you're    not   my   Uncle   Dick,   you 

know'  " 
Facing  page  20 

"Disdaining  any  reply,  Selwyn  ran  his  skiff 

ashore" 
Facing  page  102 

Lisbeth 
Facing  page  126 

"Again  I  saw  the  little  foot  beneath  her 
skirt  come  slowly  towards  me  and 
hesitate" 

Facing  page  264 


Qaprice 

2 


c/76    Joad    (Sazi 


TREASURE  TROVE 

I  SAT  fishing.  I  had  not  caught  anything, 
of  course — I  rarely  do,  nor  am  I  fond 
of  fishing  in  the  very  smallest  degree, 
but  I  fished  assiduously  all  the  same, 
because  circumstances  demanded  it. 

It  had  all  come  about  through  Lady 
Warburton,  Lisbeth's  maternal  aunt. 
Who  Lisbeth  is  you  will  learn  if  you 
trouble  to  read  these  veracious  narra- 
tives— suffice  it  for  the  present  that 
she  has  been  an  orphan  from  her 
youth  up,  with  no  living  relative  save 
her  married  sister  Julia  and  her  Aunt 
(with  a  capital  A) — the  Lady  War- 
burton  aforesaid. 

Lady  Warburton  is  small  and  some- 
ex  I  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

what  bony,  with  a  sharp  chin  and  a 
sharper  nose,  and  invariably  uses 
lorgnette;  also,  she  is  possessed  of 
much  worldly  goods. 

Precisely  a  week  ago  Lady  War- 
burton  had  requested  me  to  call  upon 
her — had  regarded  me  with  a  curious 
exactitude  through  her  lorgnette,  and 
gently  though  firmly  (Lady  War- 
burton  is  always  firm)  had  suggested 
that  Elizabeth,  though  a  dear  child, 
was  young  and  inclined  to  be  a  little 
self-willed.  That  she  (Lady  War- 
burton)  was  of  opinion  that  Elizabeth 
had  mistaken  the  friendship  which 
had  existed  between  us  so  long  for 
something  stronger.  That  although 
she  (Lady  Warburton)  quite  appre- 
ciated the  fact  that  one  who  wrote 
books,  and  occasionally  a  play,  was 
not  necessarily  immoral — still  I  was, 
of  course,  a  terrible  Bohemian,  and 
the  air  of  Bohemia  was  not  calculated 
to  conduce  to  that  degree  of  matri- 


r>  2  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

monial  harmony  which  she  (Lady 
Warburton)  as  Elizabeth's  Aunt, 
standing  to  her  in  place  of  a  mother, 
could  wish  for.  That,  therefore,  un- 
der these  circumstances  my  attentions 
were — etc.,  etc. 

Here  I  would  say  in  justice  to  my- 
self that  despite  the  torrent  of  her  elo- 
quence I  had  at  first  made  some  at- 
tempt at  resistance;  but  who  could 
hope  to  contend  successfully  against  a 
woman  possessed  of  such  an  indomi- 
table nose  and  chin,  and  one,  more- 
over, who  could  level  a  pair  of  lorgn- 
ette with  such  deadly  precision?  Still, 
had  Lisbeth  been  beside  me  things 
might  have  been  different  even  then; 
but  she  had  gone  away  into  the  coun- 
try— so  Lady  Warburton  had  in- 
formed me.  Thus  alone  and  at  her 
mercy,  she  had  succeeded  in  wringing 
from  me  a  half  promise  that  I  would 
cease  my  attentions  for  the  space  of 
six  months,  "just  to  give  dear  Eliza- 


H 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

beth  time  to  learn  her  own  heart  in  re- 
gard to  the  matter." 

This  was  last  Monday.  On  the 
Wednesday  following,  as  I  wandered 
aimlessly  along  Piccadilly,  at  odds 
with  Fortune  and  myself,  but  espe- 
cially with  myself,  my  eye  encountered 
the  Duchess  of  Chelsea. 

The  Duchess  is  familiarly  known  as 
the  "Conversational  Brook"  from  the 
fact  that  when  once  she  begins  she 
goes  on  forever.  Hence,  being  in  my 
then  frame  of  mind,  it  was  with  a 
feeling  of  rebellion  that  I  obeyed  the 
summons  of  her  parasol  and  crossed 
over  to  the  brougham. 

"So  she's  gone  away?"  was  her 
greeting  as  I  raised  my  hat — "Lis- 
beth,"  she  nodded,  "I  happened  to 
hear  something  about  her,  you  know." 

It  is  strange,  perhaps,  but  the  Duch- 
ess generally  does  "happen  to  hear" 
something  about  everything. 

"And  you  actually  allowed  yourself 
e>  4  <3 


^r 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


to  be  bullied  into  making  that  prom- 
ise— Dick!  Dick!  I'm  ashamed  of 
you." 

"How  was  I  to  help  myself?"  I  be- 
gan. "You  see " 

"Poor  boy!"  said  the  Duchess,  pat- 
ting me  affectionately  with  the  handle 
of  her  parasol,  "it  wasn't  to  be  expect- 
ed, of  course.  You  see,  I  know  her — 
many,  many  years  ago  I  was  at  school 
with  Agatha  Warburton." 

"But  she  probably  didn't  use  lorgn- 
ettes then,  and " 

"Her  nose  was  just  as  sharp  though 
— 'peaky'  I  used  to  call  it,"  nodded 
the  Duchess.  "And  she  has  actually 
sent  Lisbeth  away — dear  child — and 
to  such  a  horrid,  quiet  little  place,  too, 
where  she'll  have  nobody  to  talk  to 
but  that  young  Selwyn " 

"I  beg  pardon,  Duchess,  but " 

"Horace  Selwyn,  of  Selwyn  Park — 

cousin  to  Lord  Selwyn,  of  Brankes- 

mere.    Agatha  has  been  scheming  for 

D  5 


..*     Y 


..•o; 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

it  a  long  time,  under  the  rose,  you 
know.  Of  course,  it  would  be  a 
good  match,  in  a  way — wealthy, 
and  all  that — but  I  must  say  he 
bores  me  horribly — so  very  serious 
and  precise  1" 

"Really!"!  exclaimed,  "do  you  mean 
to  say " 

"I  expect  she  will  have  them  married 
before  they  know  it — Agatha's  dread- 
fully determined.  Her  character  lies 
in  her  nose  and  chin." 

"But  Lisbeth  is  not  a  child — she  has 
a  will  of  her  own,  and " 

"True,"  nodded  the  Duchess,  "but  is 
it  a  match  for  Agatha's  chin?  And 
then,  too,  it  is  rather  more  than  pos- 
sible that  you  are  become  the  object 
of  her  bitterest  scorn  by  now." 

"But,  my  dear  Duchess " 

"Oh,  Agatha  is  a  born  diplomat.  Of 

course  she  has  written  before  this,  and 

without  actually  saying  it  has  managed 

to  convey  the  fact  that  you  are  a  mon- 

D  6  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

ster  of  perfidy;  and  Lisbeth,  poor 
child,  is  probably  crying  her  eyes  out, 
or  imagining  she  hates  you,  is  ready 
to  accept  the  first  proposal  she  receives 
out  of  pure  pique." 

"Great  heavens!"!  exclaimed, "what 
on  earth  can  I  do?" 

"You  might  go  fishing,"  the  Duchess 
suggested  thoughtfully. 

"Fishing!"  I  repeated,  " — er,  to  be 
sure,  but " 

"Riverdale  is  a  very  pretty  place 
they  tell  me,"  pursued  the  Duchess  in 
the  same  thoughtful  tone;  "there  is  a 
house  there,  a  fine  old  place  called 
Fane  Court.  It  stands  facing  the 
river,  and  adjoins  Selwyn  Park,  I 
believe." 

"Duchess,"  I  exclaimed,  as  I  jotted 
down  the  address  upon  my  cuff,  "I  owe 
you  a  debt  of  gratitude  that  I  can 
never " 

"Tut,  tut!"  said  her  Grace. 

"I  think  I'll  start  to-day,  and " 

£>  7  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


"You    really    couldn't    do    better,' 
nodded  the  Duchess. 


And  so  it  befell  that  upon  this  Au- 
gust afternoon  I  sat  in  the  shade  of 
the  alders  fishing,  with  the  smoke  of 
my  pipe  floating  up  into  the  sunshine. 

By  adroit  questioning  I  had  elicited 
from  mine  host  of  the  Three  Jolly 
Anglers  the  precise  whereabouts  of 
Fane  Court,  the  abode  of  Lisbeth's 
sister,  and  guided  by  his  directions, 
had  chosen  this  sequestered  spot,  where 
by  simply  turning  my  head  I  could 
catch  a  glimpse  of  its  tall  chimneys 
above  the  swaying  green  of  treetops. 

It  is  a  fair  thing  upon  a  hot  sum- 
mer's afternoon  within  some  shady 
bower  to  lie  upon  one's  back  and  stare 
up  through  a  network  of  branches  into 
the  limitless  blue  beyond,  while  the  air 
is  full  of  the  stir  of  leaves,  and  the 
murmur  of  water  among  the  reeds.  Or 
propped  on  lazy  elbow,  to  watch  per- 
i>  8  <3 

\(O* 


win 
* 


CAPRICE 

spiring  wretches,  short  of  breath  and 
purple  of  visage,  urge  boats  up 
stream  or  down,  each  deluding  him- 
self into  the  belief  that  he  is  enjoy- 
ing it.  Life  under  such  conditions 
may  seem  very  fair,  as  I  say;  yet 
I  was  not  happy.  The  words  of 
the  Duchess  seemed  everywhere  about 
me. 

"You  are  become  the  object  of  her 
bitterest  scorn  by  now,"  sobbed  the 
wind. 

"You  are  become,"  etc.,  etc.,  moaned 
the  river.  It  was  therefore  with  no 
little  trepidation  that  I  looked  for- 
ward to  my  meeting  with  Lisbeth. 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  the  bushes 
parted  and  a  boy  appeared.  He  was 
a  somewhat  diminutive  boy,  clad  in  a 
velvet  suit  with  a  lace  collar,  both  of 
which  were  plentifully  bespattered 
with  mud.  He  carried  his  shoes  and 
stockings  beneath  one  arm,  and  in  the 
other  hand  swung  a  hazel  branch.  He 
E>  9  <3 


¥••  > 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

stood  with  his  little  brown  legs  well 
apart,  regarding  me  with  a  critical 
eye;  but  when  at  length  he  spoke  his 
attitude  was  decidedly  friendly. 

"Hallo,  man!" 

"Hallo,"  I  returned;  "and  whom 
may  you  be?" 

"Well,"  he  answered  gravely,  "my 
real  name  is  Reginald  Augustus,  but 
they  call  me  The  Imp.'  " 

"I  can  well  believe  it,"  I  said,  eyeing 
his  muddy  person. 

"If  you  please,  what  is  an  imp?" 

"An  imp,"  I  explained,  "is  a  sort  of 
an — angel." 

"But,"  he  demurred,  after  a  mo- 
ment's thought,  "I  haven't  got  any 
wings  an'  things — or  a  trumpet." 

"Your  kind  never  do  have  wings,  or 
trumpets." 

"Oh,  I  see,"  he  said;  and  sitting 
down  began  to  wipe  the  mud  from  his 
legs  with  his  stockings. 

"Rather    muddy,    aren't    you?"    I 


s>  10  <3 


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E^*K*2°^>§3 


"Hi*        )} 

. ^         S~\  A.  J,  I 


\^5 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

hinted.      The     boy    cast     a     furtive 
glance  at  his  draggled  person. 

"  'Fraid  I'm  a  teeny  bit  wet,  too," 
he  said  hesitatingly.  "You  see,  I've 
been  playing  at  'Romans,' an'  I  had  to 
wade,  you  know,  'cause  I  was  the 
standard-bearer  who  jumped  into  the 
sea  waving  his  sword  an'  crying, 'Fol- 
low me !'  You  remember  him,  don't 
you  ? — he's  in  the  history  book." 

"To  be  sure,"  I  nodded;  "a  truly  he- 
roic character.  But  if  you  were  the 
Romans,  where  were  the  ancient 
Britons?" 

"Oh,  they  were  the  reeds,  you  know; 
you  ought  to  have  seen  me  slay  them. 
It  was  fine;  they  went  down  like — 
like " 

"Corn  before  the  sickle,"  I  sug- 
gested. 

"Yes,  just!"  he  cried;  "the  battle 
raged  for  hours." 

"You  must  be  rather  tired." 

£>    II    <3 


AfK 

11  'Course  not,"  he  answered,  with  an 
indignant  look.  'Tm  not  a  girl — an' 
I'm  nearly  nine,  too." 

"I  gather  from  your  tone  that  you 
are  not  partial  to  the  sex — you  don't 
like  girls,  eh,  Imp.?" 

"Should  think  not,"  he  returned; 
"silly  things,  girls  are.  There's  Doro- 
thy, you  know ;  we  were  playing  at  ex- 
ecutions the  other  day — she  was  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  an'  I  was  the  heads- 
man. I  made  a  lovely  axe  with  wood 
and  silver  paper,  you  know ;  an'  when 
I  cut  her  head  off  she  cried  awfully, 
an'  I  only  gave  her  the  weeniest  little 
tap — an'  they  sent  me  to  bed  at  six 
o'clock  for  it.  I  believe  she  cried  on 
purpose — awfully  caddish,  wasn't  it?" 

"My  dear  Imp,"  said  I,  "the  older 
you  grow,  the  more  the  depravity  of 
the  sex  will  become  apparent  to  you." 

"Do  you  know,  I  like  you,"  he  said, 
regarding  me  thoughtfully.  "I  think 
you  are  fine." 

£>    12   <3 


>r 
••"••.. .} 

-rt 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Now  that's  very  nice  of  you,  Imp; 
in  common  with  my  kind  I  have  a 
weakness  for  flattery — please  go  on." 

"I  mean,  I  think  you  are  jolly." 

"As  to  that,"  I  said,  shaking  my  head 
and  sighing,  "appearances  are  often 
very  deceptive;  at  the  heart  of  many 
a  fair  blossom  there  is  a  canker 
worm." 

"I'm  awfull'  fond  of  worms,  too," 
said  the  Imp. 

"Indeed?" 

"Yes.  I  got  a  pocketful  yesterday, 
only  Aunty  found  out  an'  made  me 
let  them  all  go  again." 

"Ah — yes,"  I  said  sympathetically; 
"that  was  the  woman  of  it." 

"I've  only  got  one  left  now,"  con- 
tinued the  Imp;  and  thrusting  a  hand 
into  the  pocket  of  his  knickerbockers 
he  drew  forth  six  inches  or  so  of  slimy 
worm  and  held  it  out  to  me  upon  his 
small,  grimy  palm. 

"He's  nice  and  fatl"  I  said. 

£>    13    <3 


v^ 


T 

4- 


°0°" 

^  „ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Yes,"  nodded  the  Imp;  "I  caught 
him  under  the  gooseberry  bushes;" 
and  dropping  it  back  into  his  pocket 

he  proceeded   to   don   his  shoes  and 

f. 
stockings. 

"  'Fraid  I'm  a  bit  muddy,"  he  said 
suddenly. 

"Oh,  you  might  be  worse,"  I  an- 
swered reassuringly. 

"Do  you  think  they'll  notice  it?"  he 
inquired,  contorting  himself  horribly 
in  order  to  view  the  small  of  his  back. 

"Well,"  I  hesitated,  "it  all  depends, 
you  know." 

"I  don't  mind  Dorothy,  or  Betty  the 
cook,  or  the  governess — it's  Auntie 
Lisbeth  I'm  thinking  about." 

"Auntie — who?"  I  exclaimed,  re- 
gardless of  grammar. 

"Auntie  Lisbeth,"  repeated  the  Imp. 

"What  is  she  like?" 

"Oh,  she's  grown  up  big,  only  she's 
nice.  She  came  to  take  care  of  Doro- 
thy an'  me  while  mother  goes  away  to 
e>  14  <3 


.  -.. 

:3&&r- — y\  *\AS^  r?-^05Pl« 

oAo     •.  .•    oAo     ^jf  JU  -— ..WF  sz*.  «VV"^   •/)••• 

'*    ' 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

get  nice  an'  strong — oh,  Auntie  Lis- 
beth's  jolly,  you  know." 

"With  black  hair  and  blue  eyes?" 
The  Imp  nodded. 

"And  a  dimple  at  the  corner  of  her 
mouth?"  I  went  on  dreamily — "a  dim- 
ple that  would  lead  a  man  to  the — Old 
Gentleman  himself?" 

"What  old  gentleman?" 

"Oh,  a  rather  disreputable  old  gen- 
tleman," I  answered  evasively. 

"An'  do  you  know  my  Auntie  Lis- 
beth?" 

"I  think  it  extremely  probable — in 
fact,  I'm  sure  of  it." 

"Then  you  might  lend  me  your  hand- 
kerchief, please;  I  tied  mine  to  a  bush 
for  a  flag,  you  know,  an'  it  blew 
away." 

"You'd  better  come  here  and  I'll 
give  you  a  rub-down,  my  Imp."  He 
obeyed,  with  many  profuse  expressions 
of  gratitude. 

"Have  you  got  any  Aunties?"  he  in- 
£>  15  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

quired,  as  I  laboured  upon  his  miry 
person. 

"No," I  answered,  shaking  my  head; 
"unfortunately  mine  are  all  Aunts,  and 
that  is  vastly  different." 

"Oh,"  said  the  Imp,  regarding  me 
with  a  puzzled  expression;  "are  they 
nice — I  mean  do  they  ever  read  to  you 
out  of  the  history  book,  an'  help  you 
to  sail  boats,  an'  paddle?" 

"Paddle?"  I  repeated. 

"Yes.  My  Auntie  Lisbeth  does. 
The  other  day  we  got  up  awfull'  early 
an'  went  for  a  walk,  an'  we  came  to 
the  river,  so  we  took  off  our  shoes  an' 
stockings  an'  we  paddled;  it  was  ever 
so  jolly,  you  know.  An'  when  Auntie 
wasn't  looking  I  found  a  frog  an'  put 
it  in  her  stocking." 

"Highly  strategic,  my  Imp!  Well?" 

"It  was  awful  funny,"  he  said,  smil- 
ing dreamily.  "When  she  went  to  put 
it  on  she  gave  a  little  high-up  scream, 
like  Dorothy  does  when  I  pinch  her  a 
£>  16  <3 


UxfeZ' 


t.^/ 

Sll 


I     X 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

bit — an'  then  she  throwed  them  both 
away,  'cause  she  was  afraid  there  was 
frogs  in  both  of  them.  Then  she  put 
on  her  shoes  without  any  stockings  at 
all,  so  I  hid  them." 

"Where?"  I  cried  eagerly. 

"Reggie !"  called  a  voice  some  dis- 
tance away — a  voice  I  recognised  with 
a  thrill.  "Reggie!" 

"Imp,  would  you  like  half  a  crown?" 

"'Course  I  would;  but  you  might 
clean  my  back,  please,"  and  he  began 
rubbing  himself  feverishly  with  his 
cap,  after  the  fashion  of  a  scrubbing 
brush. 

"Look  here,"  I  said,  pulling  out  the 
coin,  "tell  me  where  you  hid  them — 
quick — and  I'll  give  you  this."  The 
Imp  held  out  his  hand,  but  even  as  he 
did  so  the  bushes  parted  and  Lisbeth 
stood  before  us.  She  gave  a  little,  low 
cry  of  surprise  at  sight  of  me,  and  then 
frowned. 

"You?"  she  exclaimed. 


OU5 


MF 


"Yes,"  I  answered,  raising  my  cap. 
And  there  I  stopped,  trying  frantically 
to  remember  the  speech  I  had  so  care- 
fully prepared — the  greeting  which 
was  to  have  explained  my  conduct  and 
disarmed  her  resentment  at  the  very 
outset.  But  rack  my  brain  as  I  would, 
I  could  think  of  nothing  but  the  re- 
proach in  her  eyes — her  disdainful 
mouth  and  chin — and  that  one  haunt- 
ing phrase : 

"  'I  suppose  I  am  become  the  object 
of  your  bitterest  scorn  by  now?'"  I 
found  myself  saying. 

"My  aunt  informed  me  of — of  ev- 
erything, and  naturally " 

"Let  me  explain,"  I  began. 

"Really,  it  is  not  at  all  necessary." 

"But,  Lisbeth,  I  must — I  insist " 

"Reginald,"  she  said,  turning  toward 
the  Imp,  who  was  still  busy  with  his 
cap,  "it's  nearly  tea-time,  and — why, 
whatever  have  you  been  doing  to  your- 
self?" 

s>  18  <3 


-•' 


^^-^kOo  .•'" 


oU>          V"^| 
OOO  (j  Ss&z 

0A<-     ^7/f 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


"For  the  last  half  hour,"  I  inter- 
posed, "we  have  been  exchanging  our 
opinions  on  the  sex." 

"An*  talking  'bout  worms,"  added 
the  Imp.  "This  man  is  fond  of  worms, 
too,  Auntie  Lisbeth — I  like  him." 

"Thanks,"  I  said;  "but  let  me  beg  of 
you  to  drop  your  very  distant  mode  of 
address.  Call  me  Uncle  Dick." 

"But  you're  not  my  Uncle  Dick,  you 
know,"  he  demurred. 

"Not  yet,  perhaps;  but  there's  no 
knowing  what  may  happen  some  day 
if  your  Auntie  thinks  us  worthy — so 
take  time  by  the  forelock,  my  Imp,  and 
call  me  Uncle  Dick." 

Whatever  Lisbeth  might  or  might 
not  have  said  was  checked  by  the  pat- 
ter of  footsteps,  and  a  little  girl 
tripped  into  view,  with  a  small,  fluffy 
kitten  cuddled  in  her  arms. 

"Oh,  Auntie  Lisbeth,"  she  began,  but 
stopped  to  stare  at  me  over  the  back 
of  the  fluffy  kitten. 

s>  19  o 
x7£^^\.  /h  A/^sx^SS^ 


4  l\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Hallo,  Dorothy!"  cried  the  Imp; 
"this  is  Uncle  Dick.  You  can  come 
an'  shake  hands  with  him  if  you 
like." 

"I  didn't  know  I  had  an  Uncle 
Dick,"  said  Dorothy,  hesitating. 

"Oh,  yes;  it's  all  right,"  answered 
the  Imp  reassuringly.  "I  found  him, 
you  know,  an'  he  likes  worms,  too!" 
Dorothy  gave  me  her  hand  demurely. 

"How  do  you  do,  Uncle  Dick?"  she 
said  in  a  quaint,  old-fashioned  way. 
"Reginald  is  always  finding  things, 
you  know,  an'  he  likes  worms, 
too!"  Dorothy  gave  me  her  hand 
demurely. 

From  somewhere  near  by  there  came 
the  silvery  chime  of  a  bell. 

"Why,  there's  the  tea-bell!"  ex- 
claimed Lisbeth;  "and,  Reginald,  you 
have  to  change  those  muddy  clothes. 
Say  good-bye  to  Mr.  Brent,  children, 
and  come  along." 

"Imp,"   I  whispered  as   the  others 

£>   2O   <3 


My   LADY  CAPRICE 

turned  away,  "where  did  you  hide 
those  stockings?"  And  I  slipped  the 
half  crown  into  his  ready  palm. 

"Along  the  river  there's  a  tree — very 
big  an'  awfull'  fat,  you  know,  with  a 
lot  of  stickie-out  branches,  an'  a  hole 
in  its  stomach — they're  in  there." 

"Reginald!"  called  Lisbeth. 

"Up  stream  or  down?" 

"That  way,"  he  answered,  pointing 
vaguely  down  stream ;  and  with  a  nod 
that  brought  the  yellow  curls  over  his 
eyes  he  scampered  off. 

"Along  the  river,"  I  repeated,  "in 
a  big,  fat  tree  with  a  lot  of  stickie-out 
branches !"  It  sounded  a  trifle  indefi- 
nite, I  thought — still  I  could  but  try. 
So  having  packed  up  my  rod  I  set  out 
upon  the  search. 

It  was  strange,  perhaps,  but  nearly 
every  tree  I  saw  seemed  to  be  either 
"big"  or  "fat"— and  all  of  them  had 
"stickie-out"  branches. 

Thus  the  sun  was  already  low  in  the 


f 


u          •  • 

l^»          .*  ». 

f  *&$*•''*  **•  tfQpLlk-   ^^// 

<•  ofto  *••.  .**^A®    j\ 

V  (V      C«  /'          IV^w^^Hl 


CAPRICE 

.«*'oAo 

west,  and  I  was  lighting  my  fifth  pipe 
when  I  at  length  observed  the  tree  in 
question. 

A  great  pollard  oak  it  was,  standing 
upon  the  very  edge  of  the  stream, 
easily  distinguishable  by  its  unusual 
size  and  the  fact  that  at  some  time  or 
another  it  had  been  riven  by  lightning. 
After  all,  the  Imp's  description  had 
been  in  the  main  correct;  it  was  "fat," 
immensely  fat;  and  I  hurried  joyfully 
forward. 

I  was  still  some  way  off  when 
I  saw  the  distant  flutter  of  a  white 
skirt,  and — yes,  sure  enough,  there 
was  Lisbeth,  walking  quickly,  too,  and 
she  was  a  great  deal  nearer  the  tree 
than  I. 

Prompted  by  a  sudden  conviction,  I 
dropped  my  rod  and  began  to  run. 
Immediately  Lisbeth  began  running, 
too.  I  threw  away  my  creel  and 
sprinted  for  all  I  was  worth.  I  had 
earned  some  small  fame  at  this  sort  of 

£>    22    <3 


;>v<o.  'o 

w>  \    .-•"°i 
x>^    •.  / 

-^      rQ" 

>ti      £x?o 

*0?       i 


v 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

thing  in  my  university  days,  yet  I  ar- 
rived at  the  tree  with  only  a  very  few 
yards  to  spare.  Throwing  myself 
upon  my  knees,  I  commenced  a  fever- 
ish search,  and  presently — more  by 
good  fortune  than  anything  else — my 
random  fingers  encountered  a  soft, 
silken  bundle.  When  Lisbeth  came 
up,  flushed  and  panting,  I  held  them 
in  my  hands. 

"Give  them  to  me!"  she  cried. 

"I'm  sorry " 

"Please,"  she  begged. 

"I'm  very  sorry " 

"Mr.  Brent,"  said  Lisbeth,  drawing 
herself  up,  "I'll  trouble  you  for  my — 
them." 

"Pardon  me,  Lisbeth,"  I  answered, 
"but  if  I  remember  anything  of  the 
law  of  'treasure-trove'  one  of  these 
should  go  to  the  Crown,  and  one  be- 
longs to  me." 

Lisbeth  grew  quite  angry — one  of 
her  few  bad  traits. 

£>  23  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"You  will  give  them  up  at  once — 
immediately." 

"On  the  contrary,"  I  said  very  gen- 
tly, "seeing  the  Crown  can  have  no 
use  for  one,  I  shall  keep  them  both  to 
dream  over  when  the  nights  are  long 
and  lonely." 

Lisbeth  actually  stamped  her  foot  at 
me,  and  I  tucked  "them"  into  my 
pocket. 

"How  did  you  know  they — they 
were  here?" she  inquired  after  a  pause. 

"I  was  directed  to  a  tree  with  'stickie- 
out'  branches,"  I  answered. 

"Oh,  that  Imp!"  she  exclaimed,  and 
stamped  her  foot  again. 

"Do  you  know,  I've  grown  quite  at- 
tached to  that  nephew  of  mine   al- 
ready?" I  said. 
* 

"He's  not  a  nephew  of  yours,"  cried 
Lisbeth  quite  hotly. 

"Not  legally,  perhaps;  that  is  where 
you  might  be  of  such  assistance  to  us 
Lisbeth.  A  boy  with  only  an  aunt 
£>  24  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

here  and  there  is  unbalanced,  so  to 
speak;  he  requires  the  stronger  influ- 
ence of  an  uncle.  Not,"  I  continued 
hastily,  "that  I  would  depreciate 
aunts — by  the  way,  he  has  but 
one,  I  believe?"  Lisbeth  nodded 
coldly. 

"Of  course,"  I  nodded;  "and  very 
lucky  in  that  one — extremely  fortu- 
nate. Now,  years  ago,  when  I  was 
a  boy,  I  had  three,  and  all  of  them 
blanks,  so  to  speak.  I  mean  none  of 
them  ever  read  to  me  out  of  the  his- 
tory book,  or  helped  me  to  sail  boats, 
or  paddled  and  lost  their —  No, 
mine  used  to  lecture  me  about  my  hair 
and  nails,  I  remember,  and  glare  at 
me  over  the  big  tea  urn  until  I  choked 
into  my  teacup.  A  truly  desolate 
childhood  mine.  I  had  no  big-fisted 
uncle  to  thump  me  persuasively  when 
I  needed  it;  had  fortune  granted  me 
one  I  might  have  been  a  very  different 
man,  Lisbeth.  You  behold  in  me  a 
£>  25  <s 


o'O'o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

horrible  example  of  what  one  may  be- 
come whose  boyhood  has  been  de- 
nuded of  uncles." 

"If  you  will  be  so  very  obliging  as 
to  return  my — my  property." 

"My  dear  Lisbeth,"  I  sighed,  "be 
reasonable;  suppose  we  talk  of  some- 
thing else;"  and  I  attempted,  though 
quite  vainly,  to  direct  her  attention  to 
the  glories  of  the  sunset. 

A  fallen  tree  lay  near  by,  upon  which 
Lisbeth  seated  herself  with  a  certain 
determined  set  of  her  little,  round 
chin  that  I  knew  well. 

"And  how  long  do  you  intend  keep- 
ing me  here?"  she  asked  in  a  resigned 
tone. 

"Always,  if  I  had  my  way." 

"Really?"  she  said,  and  whole  vol- 
umes could  never  describe  all  the  scorn 
she  managed  to  put  into  that  single 
word.  "You  see,"  she  continued,  "af- 
ter what  Aunt  Agatha  wrote  and  told 
» 

&    26    <3 


y. 

1 ./  \. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Lisbeth,"    I   broke    in,    "if   you'll 

only " 

"I  naturally  supposed " 


'If  you'll  only  let  me  explain- 


"That  you  would  abide  by  the  prom- 
ise you  made  her  and  wait " 

"Until  you  knew  your  own  heart,"  I 
put  in.  "The  question  is,  how  long 
will  it  take  you?  Probably,  if  you 
would  allow  me  to  teach  you " 

"Your  presence  here  now  stamps  you 
as — as  horribly  deceitful!" 

"Undoubtedly,"  I  nodded;  "but  you 
see  when  I  was  foolish  enough  to 
give  that  promise  your  very  excellent 
Aunt  made  no  reference  to  her  in- 
tentions regarding  a  certain  Mr. 
Selwyn." 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  Lisbeth.  And  feel- 
ing that  I  had  made  a  point,  I  con- 
tinued with  redoubled  ardour: 

"She  gave  me  to  understand  that 
she  merely  wished  you  to  have  time 
to  know  your  own  heart  in  the 
D  27  <3 


A 


CAPRICE 

matter.  Now,  as  I  said  before,  how 
long  will  it  take  you  to  find  out, 
Lisbeth?" 

She  sat  chin  in  hand  staring  straight 
before  her,  and  her  black  brows  were 
still  drawn  together  in  a  frown.  But 
I  watched  her  mouth — just  where  the 
scarlet  underlip  curved  up  to  meet  its 
fellow. 

Lisbeth's  mouth  is  a  trifle  wide,  per- 
haps, and  rather  full-lipped,  and 
somewhere  at  one  corner — I  can  never 
be  quite  certain  of  its  exact  location, 
because  its  appearance  is,  as  a  rule,  so 
very  meteoric — but  somewhere  there 
is  a  dimple.  Now,  if  ever  there  was 
an  arrant  traitor  in  this  world  it  is  that 
dimple;  for  let  her  expression  be  ever 
so  guileless,  let  her  wistful  eyes  be 
raised  with  a  look  of  tears  in  their 
blue  depths,  despite  herself  that  dim- 
ple will  spring  into  life  and  undo  it  all 
in  a  moment.  So  it  was  now,  even  as 
I  watched  it  quivered  round  her  lips, 
£>  28  o 


CAPRICE 

and  feeling  herself  betrayed,  the  frown 
vanished  altogether  and  she  smiled. 

"And  now,  Dick,  suppose  you  give 
me  my — my " 

"Conditionally,"  I  said,  sitting  down 
beside  her. 

The  sun  had  set,  and  from  some- 
where among  the  purple  shadows  of 
the  wood  the  rich,  deep  notes  of  a 
blackbird  came  to  us,  with  pauses  now 
and  then,  filled  in  with  the  rustle  of 
leaves  and  the  distant  lowing  of  cows. 

"Not  far  from  the  village  of  Down 
in  Kent,"  I  began  dreamily,  "there 
stands  an  old  house  with  quaint,  high- 
gabled  roofs  and  twisted  Tudor  chim- 
neys. Many  years  ago  it  was  the 
home  of  fair  ladies  and  gallant  gen- 
tlemen, but  its  glory  is  long  past.  And 
yet,  Lisbeth,  when  I  think  of  it  at  such 
an  hour  as  this,  and  with  you  beside 
me,  I  begin  to  wonder  if  we  could  not 
manage  between  us  to  bring  back  the 
old  order  of  things." 


£>  29  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

LIsbeth  was  silent. 

"It  has  a  wonderful  old-fashioned 
rose  garden,  and  you  are  fond  of  roses, 
Lisbeth." 

"Yes,"  she  murmured;  "I'm  very 
fond  of  roses." 

"They  would  be  in  full  bloom  now," 
I  suggested. 

There  was  another  pause,  during 
which  the  blackbird  performed  three 
or  four  difficult  arias  with  astonishing 
ease  and  precision. 

"Aunt  Agatha  is  fond  of  roses,  too !" 
said  Lisbeth  at  last  very  gravely. 
"Poor,  dear  Aunt,  I  wonder  what  she 
would  say  if  she  could  see  us  now?" 

"Such  things  are  better  left  to  the  im- 
agination," I  answered. 

"I  ought  to  write  and  tell  her," 
murmured  Lisbeth. 

"But  you  won't  do  that,  of  course?" 

"No,  I  won't  do  that,  if " 

"Well?" 

"If  you  will  give  me — them." 


£>  30  <3 


3A° 


Col..-' 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


"One,"  I  demurred. 

"Both!" 

"On  one  condition,  then — just  once, 
Lisbeth?" 

Her  lips  were  very  near,  her  lashes 
drooped,  and  for  one  delicious  mo- 
ment she  hesitated.  Then  I  felt  a  lit- 
tle tug  at  my  coat  pocket,  and  spring- 
ing to  her  feet  she  was  away  with 
"them"  clutched  in  her  hand. 

"Trickery!"  I  cried,  and  started  in 
pursuit. 

There  is  a  path  through  the  woods 
leading  to  the  Shrubbery  at  Fane 
Court.  Down  this  she  fled,  and  her 
laughter  came  to  me  on  the  wind.  I 
was  close  upon  her  when  she  reached 
the  gate,  and  darting  through,  turned, 
flushed  but  triumphant. 

"I've  won!"  she  mocked,  nodding 
her  head  at  me. 

"Who  can  cope  with  the  duplicity  of 
a  woman?"  I  retorted.   "But,  Lisbeth, 
you  will  give  me  one — just  one?" 
s>  31  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"It  would  spoil  the  pair." 

"Oh,  very  well,"  I  sighed,  "good- 
night, Lisbeth,"  and  lifting  my  cap  I 
turned  away. 

There  came  a  ripple  of  laughter  be- 
hind me,  something  struck  me  softly 
upon  the  cheek,  and  stooping,  I  picked 
up  that  which  lay  half  unrolled  at  my 
feet,  but  when  I  looked  round  Lisbeth 
was  gone. 

"So  presently  I  thrust  "them"  into 
my  pocket  and  walked  back  slowly 
along  the  river  path  toward  the  hos- 
pitable shelter  of  the  Three  Jolly 
Anglers. 


D   32    <3 


ii 


THE    SHERIFF    OF    NOTTINGHAM 

To  sit  beside  a  river  on  a  golden  aft- 
ernoon listening  to  its  whispered  mel- 
ody, while  the  air  about  one  is  fra- 
grant with  summer,  and  heavy  with 
the  drone  of  unseen  wings! — What 
ordinary  mortal  could  wish  for  more  ? 

And  yet,  though  conscious  of  this 
fair  world  about  me,  I  was  still  un- 
content,  for  my  world  was  incomplete 
— nay,  lacked  its  most  essential  charm, 
and  I  sat  with  my  ears  on  the  stretch, 
waiting  for  Lisbeth's  chance  footstep 
on  the  path  and  the  soft  whisper  of 
her  skirts. 

The  French  are  indeed  a  great  peo- 
ple, for  among  many  other  things  they 
alone  have  caught  that  magic  sound 
a  woman's  garments  make  as  she 
D  33  <B 


»        •  V  f  t  ^* 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

walks,  and  given  it  to  the  world  in 
the  one  word  (< frou-frou" 

O  wondrous  word !  O  word  sub- 
lime! How  full  art  thou  of  delicate 
suggestion!  Truly,  there  can  be  no 
sweeter  sound  to  ears  masculine  upon 
a  golden  summer  afternoon — or  any 
other  time,  for  that  matter — than  the 
soft  ufrou-frou"  that  tells  him  She  is 
coming. 

At  this  point  my  thoughts  were  in- 
terrupted by  something  which  hurtled 
through  the  air  and  splashed  into  the 
water  at  my  feet.  Glancing  at  this 
object,  'I  recognised  the  loud-toned 
cricket  cap  affected  by  the  Imp,  and 
reaching  for  it,  I  fished  it  out  on  the 
end  of  my  rod.  It  was  a  hideous  thing 
of  red,  white,  blue,  and  green — a 
really  horrible  affair,  and  therefore 
much  prized  by  its  owner,  as  I  knew. 

Behind  me  the  bank  rose  some  four 
or  five  feet,  crowned  with  willows  and 
underbrush,  from  the  other  side  of 

£>    34    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

which  there  now  came  a  prodigious 
rustling  and  panting.  Rising  to  my 
feet,  therefore,  I  parted  the  leaves 
with  extreme  care,  and  beheld  the  Imp 
himself. 

He  was  armed  to  the  teeth — that  is 
to  say,  a  wooden  sword  swung  at  his 
thigh,  a  tin  bugle  depended  from  his 
belt,  and  he  carried  a  bow  and  arrow. 
Opposite  him  was  another  boy,  partic- 
ularly ragged  at  knee  and  elbow,  who 
stood  with  hands  thrust  into  his  pock- 
ets and  grinned. 

"Base  caitiff,  hold!"  cried  the  Imp, 
fitting  an  arrow  to  the  string;  "stand 
an'  deliver.  Give  me  my  cap,  thou 
varlet,  thou!"  The  boy's  grin  ex- 
panded. 

"Give  me  my  cap,  base  slave,  or  I'll 
shoot  you — by  my  troth!"  As  he 
spoke  the  Imp  aimed  his  arrow, 
whereupon  the  boy  ducked  promptly. 

"I  ain't  got  yer  cap,"  he  grinned 

from  the  shelter  of  his  arm.     "It's 

o  35  <3 


)  4  I 


s^. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

been  an'  gone  an'  throwed  itself  into 
the  river!"  The  Imp  let  fly  his  ar- 
row, which  was  answered  by  a  yell 
from  the  Base  Varlet. 

"Yah  !"he  cried  derisively  as  the  Imp 
drew  his  sword  with  a  melodramatic 
flourish.  "Yah!  put  down  that  stick 
an'  I'll  fight  yer." 

The  Imp  indignantly  repudiated  his 
trusty  weapon  being  called  "a  stick" — 
"an'  I  don't  think,"  he  went  on,  "that 
Robin  Hood  ever  fought  without  his 
sword.  Let's  see  what  the  book  says," 
and  he  drew  a  very  crumpled  paper- 
covered  volume  from  his  pocket,  which 
he  consulted  with  knitted  brows,  while 
the  Base  Varlet  watched  him,  open- 
mouthed. 

"Oh,  yes,"  nodded  the  Imp;  "it's  all 
right.  Listen  to  this!"  and  he  read  as 
follows  in  a  stern,  deep  voice: 

'Then  Robin  tossed  aside  his  trusty 
blade,  an'  laying  bare  his  knotted  arm, 
approached  the  dastardly  ruffian  with 
£>  36  <3 


fj/  w^w  inr 

T  /w/  jo» v^i 1  \\N?flC7/y  ivi   X58<  \VV    Av 


MX  I^Dy  CAPRICE 

many  a  merry  quip  and  jest,  prepared 
for  the  fierce  death-grip.' ' 

Hereupon  the  Imp  laid  aside  his 
book  and  weapons  and  proceeded  to 
roll  up  his  sleeve,  having  done  which 
to  his  satisfaction,  he  faced  round 
upon  the  Base  Varlet. 

"Have  at  ye,  dastardly  ruffian !"  he 
cried,  and  therewith  ensued  a  battle, 
fierce  and  fell. 

If  his  antagonist  had  it  in  height,  the 
Imp  made  up  for  it  in  weight — he  is 
a  particularly  solid  Imp — and  thus 
the  struggle  lasted  for  some  five  min- 
utes without  any  appreciable  advan- 
tage to  either,  when,  in  eluding  one  of 
the  enemy's  desperate  rushes,  the  Imp 
stumbled,  lost  his  balance,  and  next 
moment  I  had  caught  him  in  my  arms. 
For  a  space  "the  enemy"  remained 
panting  on  the  bank  above,  and  then 
with  another  yell  turned  and  darted 
off  among  the  bushes. 

"Hallo,  Imp!"  I  said. 


MY  LADY  C/J  PRICE 

"Hallo,  Uncle  Dick!"  he  returned. 

"Hurt?"  I  inquired. 

"Wounded  a  bit  in  the  nose,  you 
know,"  he  answered,  mopping  that 
organ  with  his  handkerchief;  "but  did 
you  see  me  punch  'yon  varlet'  in  the 
eye?" 

"Did  you,  Imp?" 

"I  think  so,  Uncle  Dick;  only  I  do 
wish  I'd  made  him  surrender.  The 
book  says  that  Robin  Hood  always 
made  his  enemies  'surrender  an'  beg 
their  life  on  trembling  knee!'  Oh,  it 
must  be  fine  to  see  your  enemies  on 
their  knee!" 

"Especially  if  they  tremble,"  I 
added. 

"Do  you  s'pose  that  boy — I  mean 
'yon  base  varlet'  would  have  surren- 
dered?" 

"Not  a  doubt  of  it — if  he  hadn't  hap- 
pened to  push  you  over  the  bank  first." 

"Oh!"  murmured  the  Imp  rather  du- 
biously. 

o  38  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"By  the  way,"  I  said  as  I  filled 
my  pipe,  "where  is  your  Auntie 
Lisbeth?" 

"Well,  I  chased  her  up  the  big  ap- 
ple-tree with  my  bow  an'  arrow." 

"Of  course,"  I  nodded.  "Very  right 
and  proper!" 

"You  see,"  he  explained,  "I  wanted 
her  to  be  a  wild  elephant  an'  she 
wouldn't." 

"Extremely  disobliging  of  herl" 

"Yes,  wasn't  it?  So  when  she  was 
right  up  I  took  away  the  ladder  an' 
hid  it" 

"Highly  strategic,  my  Imp." 

"So  then  I  turned  into  Robin  Hood. 
I  hung  my  cap  on  a  bush  to  shoot  at, 
you  know,  an'  'the  Base  Varlet'  came 
up  an'  ran  off  with  it." 

"And  there  it  is,"  I  said,  pointing 
to  where  it  lay.  The  Imp  received  it 
with  profuse  thanks,  and  having 
wrung  out  the  water,  clapped  it  upon 
his  curls  and  sat  down  beside  me. 
E>  39  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"I  found  another  man  who  wants  to 
be  my  uncle,"  he  began. 

"Oh,  indeed?" 

"Yes;  but  I  don't  want  any  more, 
you  know." 

"Of  course  not.  One  like  me  suf- 
fices for  your  every-day  needs — eh, 
my  Imp?" 

The  Imp  nodded.  "It  was  yester- 
day," he  continued.  "He  came  to  see 
Auntie  Lisbeth,  an'  I  found  them  in 
the  summer-house  in  the  orchard.  An' 
I  heard  him  say,  'Miss  Elizabeth, 
you're  prettier  than  ever!'  ' 

"Did  he  though,  confound  him!" 

"Yes,  an'  then  Auntie  Lisbeth  looked 
silly,  an'  then  he  saw  me  behind  a  tree 
an'  he  looked  silly,  too.  Then  he  said, 
'Come  here,  little  man!'  An'  I  went, 
you  know,  though  I  do  hate  to  be 
called  'little  man.'  Then  he  said  he'd 
give  me  a  shilling  if  I'd  call  him 
Uncle  Frank." 

"And  what  did  you  answer?" 
s>  40  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"  'Fraid  I'm  awfull'  wicked,"  sighed 
the  Imp,  shaking  his  head,  "  'cause  I 
told  him  a  great  big  lie." 

"Did  you,  Imp?" 

"Yes.  I  said  I  didn't  want  his  shil- 
ling, an'  I  do,  you  know,  most  awfully, 
to  buy  a  spring  pistol  with." 

"Oh,  well,  we'll  see  what  can  be  done 
about  the  spring  pistol,"  I  answered. 
"And  so  you  don't  like  him,  eh?" 

"Should  think  not,"  returned  the 
Imp  promptly.  "He's  always  so — so 
awfull'  clean,  an'  wears  a  little  mous- 
tache with  teeny  sharp  points  on  it." 

"Any  one  who  does  that  deserves  all 
he  gets,"  I  said,  shaking  my  head. 
And  what  is  his  name?" 

"The  Honourable  Frank  Selwyn,  an' 
he  lives  at  Selwyn  Park — the  next 
house  to  ours." 

"Oho  I"  I  exclaimed,  and  whistled. 

"Uncle  Dick"  said  the  Imp,  breaking 
in  upon  a  somewhat  unpleasant  train 

of  thought  conjured  up  by  this  intelli- 

i  1  \ 

£>   41    <3 


'a    ••. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


( 

gence,  "will  you  come  an'  be  'Little- 
John  under  the  merry  greenwood 
tree'?  Do." 

"Why,  what  do  you  know  about  'the 
merry  greenwood,'  Imp?" 

"Oh,  lots!"  he  answered,  hastily 
pulling  out  the  tattered  book.  "This 
is  all  about  Robin  Hood  an'  Little- 
John.  Ben,  the  gardener's  boy,  lent 
it  to  me.  Robin  Hood  was  a  fine 
chap,  an'  so  was  Little-John,  an'  they 
used  to  set  ambushes  an'  capture  the 
Sheriff  of  Nottingham  an'  all  sorts  of 
caddish  barons,  an'  tie  them  to 
trees." 

"My  Imp,"  I  said,  shaking  my  head, 
"the  times  are  sadly  changed.  One 
cannot  tie  barons — caddish  or  other- 
wise— to  trees  in  these  degenerate 
days." 

"No,  I  s'pose  not,"  sighed  the  Imp 
dolefully;  "but  I  do  wish  you  would 
be  Little-John,  Uncle  Dick." 

"Oh,  certainly,  Imp,  if  it  will  make 
s>  42  <3 

#%H^^\^o  /r^J^^i^ 

'  •'    v 


sr^^ 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

you  any  happier;  though  of  a  truth, 
bold  Robin,"  I  continued  after  the 
manner  of  the  story  books,  "Little- 
John  hath  a  mind  to  bide  awhile  and 
commune  with  himself  here;  yet  give 
but  one  blast  upon  thy  bugle  horn  and 
thou  shalt  find  my  arm  and  quarter- 
staff  ready  and  willing  enough,  I'll 
warrant  you !" 

"That  sounds  awfull'  fine,  Uncle 
Dick,  only — you  haven't  got  a  quar- 
ter-staff, you  know." 

"Yea,  'tis  here!"  I  answered,  and 
detached  the  lower  joint  of  my  fishing 
rod.  The  Imp  rose,  and  folding  his 
arms,  surveyed  me  as  Robin  Hood 
himself  might  have  done — that  is  to 
say,  with  an  'eye  of  fire.' 

"So  be  it,  my  faithful  Little- John," 
quoth  he;  "meet  me  at  the  Blasted 
Oak  at  midnight.  An'  if  I  shout  for 
help — I  mean  blow  my  bugle — you'll 
come  an'  rescue  me,  won't  you,  Uncle 
Dick?" 

£>  43  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Ay;  trust  me  for  that,"  I  answered, 
all  unsuspecting. 

"Tis  well!"  nodded  the  Imp;  and 
with  a  wave  of  his  hand  he  turned  and 
scrambling  up  the  bank  disappeared. 

Of  the  existence  of  Mr.  Selwyn  I  was 
already  aware,  having  been  notified  in 
this  particular  by  the  Duchess,  as  I 
have  told  in  the  foregoing  narrative. 

Now,  a  rival  in  air — in  the  abstract, 
so  to  speak — is  one  thing,  but  a  rival 
who  was  on  a  sufficiently  intimate  foot- 
ing to  deal  in  personal  compliments, 
and  above  all,  one  who  was  already 
approved  of  and  encouraged  by  the 
powers  that  be,  in  the  person  of  Lady 
Warburton  —  Lisbeth's  formidable 
aunt — was  another  consideration  alto- 
gether. 

"Miss  Elizabeth,  you're  prettier  than 
ever!" 

Somehow  the  expression  rankled. 

What  right  had  he  to  tell  her  such 

things  ? — and  in  a  summer-house,  too ; 

E>  44  <3 

-Art?'*  ^<<t 


///  J\ 


<4#L 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

— the  insufferable  audacity  of  the  fel- 
low! 

A  pipe  being  indispensable  to  the  oc- 
casion, I  took  out  my  matchbox,  only 
to  find  that  it  contained  but  a  solitary 
vesta. 

The  afternoon  had  been  hot  and  still 
hitherto,  with  never  so  much  as  a 
breath  of  wind  stirring;  but  no  sooner 
did  I  prepare  to  strike  that  match 
than  from  somewhere  —  Heaven 
knows  where — there  came  a  sudden 
flaw  of  wind  that  ruffled  the  glassy 
waters  of  the  river  and  set  every  leaf 
whispering.  Waiting  until  what  I 
took  to  be  a  favourable  opportunity, 
with  infinite  precaution  I  struck  a 
light.  It  flickered  in  a  sickly  fashion 
for  a  moment  between  my  sheltering 
palms,  and  immediately  expired. 

This  is  but  one  example  of  that 
"Spirit  of  the  Perverse"  pervading  all 
things  mundane,  which  we  poor  mor- 
tals are  called  upon  to  bear  as  best  we 
£>  45  <3 

.V  K 


pr-W 


?\    "^^ 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

may.  Therefore  I  tossed  aside  the 
charred  match,  and  having  searched 
fruitlessly  through  my  pockets  for  an- 
other, waited  philosophically  for  some 
"good  Samaritan"  to  come  along. 
The  bank  I  have  mentioned  sloped 
away  gently  on  my  left,  thus  afford- 
ing an  uninterrupted  view  of  the 
path. 

Now  as  my  eyes  followed  this  wind- 
ing path  I  beheld  an  individual  some 
distance  away  who  crawled  upon  his 
hands  and  knees,  evidently  searching 
for  something.  As  I  watched,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  raking  a  Panama  hat  from 
beneath  a  bush,  and  having  dusted  it 
carefully  with  his  handkerchief,  re- 
placed it  upon  his  head  and  continued 
his  advance. 

With  some  faint  hope  that  there 
might  be  a  loose  match  hiding  away 
in  some  corner  of  my  pockets,  I  went 
through  them  again  more  carefully, 
but  alas!  with  no  better  success; 


X 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

whereupon  I  gave  it  up  and  turned  to 
glance  at  the  approaching  figure. 

My  astonishment  may  be  readily 
imagined  when  I  beheld  him  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  attitude  as  before — 
that  is  to  say,  upon  his  hands  and 
knees. 

I  was  yet  puzzling  over  this  phe- 
nomenon when  he  again  raked  out  the 
Panama  on  the  end  of  the  hunting- 
crop  he  carried,  dusted  it  as  before, 
looking  about  him  the  while  with  a 
bewildered  air,  and  setting  it  firmly 
upon  his  head,  came  down  the  path. 

He  was  a  tall  young  fellow,  scrupu- 
lously neat  and  well  groomed  from  the 
polish  of  his  brown  riding  boots  to  his 
small,  sleek  moustache,  which  was 
parted  with  elaborate  care  and  twisted 
into  two  fine  points.  There  was  about 
his  whole  person  an  indefinable  air  of 
self-complacent  satisfaction,  but  he 
carried  his  personality  in  his  mous- 
tache, so  to  speak,  which,  though 
£>  47  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

small,  as  I  say,  and  precise  to  a  hair, 
yet  obtruded  itself  upon  one  in  a 
vaguely  unpleasant  way.  Noticing  all 
this,  I  thought  I  might  make  a  very 
good  guess  as  to  his  identity  if  need 
were. 

All  at  once,  as  I  watched  him — like 
a  bird  rising  from  her  nest — the  de- 
voted Panama  rose  in  the  air,  turned 
over  once  or  twice  and  fluttered  (I 
use  the  word  figuratively)  into  a  bram- 
ble bush.  Bad  language  was  writ  large 
in  every  line  of  his  body  as  he  stood 
looking  about  him,  the  hunting-crop 
quivering  in  his  grasp. 

It  was  at  this  precise  juncture  that 
his  eye  encountered  me,  and  pausing 
only  to  recover  his  unfortunate  head- 
gear, he  strode  toward  where  I  sat. 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  this?" 
he  inquired  in  a  somewhat  aggressive 
manner,  holding  up  a  length  of  black 
thread. 

"A  piece  of  ordinary  pack-thread," 
£>  48  <3 


*a) 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

I  answered,  affecting  to  examine  it 
with  a  critical  eye. 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  it?" 
he  said  again,  evidently  in  a  very  bad 
temper. 

"Sir,"  I  answered,  "I  do  not." 

"Because  if  I  thought  you  did " 

"Sir,"  I  broke  in,  "you'll  excuse  me, 
but  that  seems  a  very  remarkable  hat 
of  yours." 

"I  repeat  if  I  thought  you  did " 

"Of  course,"  I  went  on,  "each  to  his 
taste,  but  personally  I  prefer  one  with 
less  'gymnastic'  and  more  'stay-at- 
home,  qualities.'' 

The  hunting-crop  was  raised  threat- 
eningly. 

"Mr.  Selwyn?"  I  inquired  in  a  con- 
versational tone. 

The  hunting-crop  hesitated  and  was 
lowered. 

"Well,  sir?" 

"Ah,  I  thought  so,"  I  said,  bowing; 
"permit  me  to  trespass  upon  your  gen- 


E>  49 


)<v 


.Ja    .•  '.  ovo« 

•  'O' 

AO  ••. 


...I 


%    ^tt^^P^^^:2^  "-V 

•'  \      J/T  -  ' 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

erosity  to  the  extent  of  a  match — or, 
say,  a  couple." 

Mr.  Selwyn  remained  staring  down 
at  me  for  a  moment,  and  I  saw  the 
points  of  his  moustache  positively 
curling  with  indignation.  Then,  with- 
out deigning  a  reply,  he  turned  on  his 
heel  and  strode  away.  He  had  not 
gone  more  than  thirty  or  forty  paces, 
however,  when  I  heard  him  stop  and 
swear  savagely — I  did  not  need  to 
look  to  learn  the  reason — I  admit  I 
chuckled.  But  my  merriment  was 
short-lived,  for  a  moment  later  came 
the  feeble  squeak  of  a  horn  followed 
by  a  shout  and  the  Imp's  voice  up- 
raised in  dire  distress. 

"Little- John  1  Little- John !  to  the  res- 
cue!" it  called. 

I  hesitated,  for  I  will  freely  confess 
that  when  I  had  made  that  promise  to 
the  Imp  it  was  with  small  expectation 
that  I  should  be  called  upon  to  fulfil  it. 
Still,  a  promise  is  a  promise:  so  I 
£>  50  <s 


. 

vo . 
>  o?  •  v 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

sighed,  and  picking  up  the  joint  of  my 
fishing  rod,  clambered  up  the  bank. 
Glancing  in  the  direction  of  the  cries, 
I  beheld  Robin  Hood  struggling  in 
the  foe's  indignant  grasp. 

Now,  there  were  but  two  methods  of 
procedure  open  to  me  as  I  could  see — 
the  serious  or  the  frankly  grotesque. 
Naturally  I  chose  the  latter,  and  quar- 
ter-staff on  shoulder,  I  swaggered 
down  the  path  with  an  air  that  Little- 
John  himself  might  well  have  envied. 

"Beshrew  me!"  I  cried,  confronting 
the  amazed  Mr.  Selwyn,  "who  dares 
lay  hands  on  bold  Robin  Hood? — 
away,  base  rogue,  hie  thee  hence  or  I 
am  like  to  fetch  thee  a  dour  ding  on 
that  pate  o'  thine !" 

Mr.  Selwyn  loosed  the  Imp  and 
stared  at  me  in  speechless  astonish- 
ment, as  well  he  might. 

"Look  ye,  master,"  I  continued,  en- 
tering into  the  spirit  of  the  thing,  "no 
man  lays  hand  on  Robin  Hood  whiles 

£>    5 1    ^3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Little- John  can  twirl  a  staff  or  draw  a 
bow-string — no,  by  St.  Cuthbert  I" 

The  Imp,  retired  to  a  safe  distance, 
stood  hearkening  in  a  transport  till, 
bethinking  him  of  his  part,  he  fished 
out  the  tattered  book  and  began  sur- 
reptitiously turning  over  the  pages; 
as  for  Mr.  Selwyn,  he  only  fumbled 
at  his  moustache  and  stared. 

"Aye,  but  I  know  thee,"  I  went  on 
again,  "by  thy  sly  and  crafty  look,  by 
thy  scallopped  cape  and  chain  of  office, 
I  know  thee  for  that  same  Sheriff  of 
Nottingham  that  hath  sworn  to  our 
undoing.  Go  to !  didst'  think  to  take 
Robin — in  the  greenwood  ?  Out  upon 
thee!  Thy  years  should  have  taught 
thee  better  wisdom.  Out  upon  thee  1" 

"Now  will  I  feed" — began  the  Imp, 
with  the  book  carefully  held  behind 
him,  "now  will  I  feed  fat  mine  ven- 
geance— to  thy  knees  for  a  scurvy  ras- 
cal!" 

"Aye,  by  St.  Benedict!"  I  nodded, 


52    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

'  'twere  well  he  should  do  penance  on 
his  marrow-bones  from  hither  to  Not- 
tingham Town ;  but  as  thou  art  strong 
— be  merciful,  Robin." 

Mr.  Selwyn  still  curled  the  point  of 
his  moustache. 

"Are  you  mad,"  he  inquired,  "or 
only  drunk?" 

"As  to  that,  good  master  Sheriff,  it 
doth  concern  thee  nothing — but  mark 
you!  'tis  an  ill  thing  to  venture  within     ^l 
the   greenwood   whiles   Robin   Hood 
and  Little-John  be  abroad." 

Mr.  Selwyn  shrugged  his  shoulders 
and  turned  to  the  Imp. 

"I  am  on  my  way  to  see  your  Aunt 
Elizabeth,  and  shall  make  it  my  par- 
ticular care  to  inform  her  of  your  con- 
duct, and  to  see  that  you  are  properly 
punished.  As  for  you,  sir,"  he  con- 
tinued, addressing  me,  "I  shall  inform 
the  police  that  there  is  a  madman  at 
large." 

At  this  double-barrelled  threat  the 
D  53  o 


*     •  ^ II I 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Imp  was  plainly  much  dismayed,  and 
coming  up  beside  me,  slipped  his  hand 
into  mine,  and  I  promptly  pocketed  it. 

"Sweet  master  Sheriff,"  I  said, 
sweeping  off  my  cap  in  true  outlaw 
fashion,  "the  way  is  long  and  some- 
thing lonely ;  methinks — we  will  there- 
fore e'en  accompany  you,  and  may  per- 
chance lighten  the  tedium  with  quip 
and  quirk  and  a  merry  stave  or  so." 

Seeing  the  angry  rejoinder  upon  Mr. 
Selwyn's  lips,  I  burst  forth  incontinent 
into  the  following  ditty,  the  words 
extemporised  to  the  tune  of  "Bonnie 
Dundee" : 

There  lived  a  sheriff  in  Nottingham- 
shire, 
With    a   hey   deny    down   and   a 

down; 
He  was  fond  of  good  beef,  but  was 

fonder  of  beer, 
With  a  hey  derry  down  and  a  down. 

By  the  time  we  reached  the  Shrub- 
bery gate  the  Imp  was  in  an  ecstasy 
£>  54  <3 


i'r 


ft 

y 


//,. 


\ 


LADY  CAPRICE 

and  Mr.  Selwyn  once  more  reduced  to 
speechless  indignation  and  astonish- 
ment. Here  our  ways  diverged,  Mr. 
Selwyn  turning  toward  the  house, 
while  the  Imp  and  I  made  our  way  to 
the  orchard  at  the  rear. 

"Uncle  Dick,"  he  said,  halting  sud- 
denly, "do  you  think  he  will  tell — 
really?" 

"My  dear  Imp,"  I  answered,  "a 
man  who  wears  'points  on  his  mous- 
tache' is  capable  of  anything." 

"Then  I  shall  be  sent  to  bed  for  it,  I 
know  I  shall!" 

"To  run  into  a  thread  tied  across  the 
path  must  have  been  very  annoying," 
I  said,  shaking  my  head  thoughtfully, 
"especially  with  a  brand-new  hat!" 

"They  were  only  'ambushes,'  you 
know,  Uncle  Dick." 

"To  be  sure,"  I  nodded.  "Now,  ob- 
serve, my  Imp,  here  is  a  shilling;  go 
and  buy  that  spring-pistol  you  were 
speaking  of,  and  take  your  time  about 

£>  55  <* 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

it;  I'll  see  what  can  be  done  in  the 
meanwhile." 

The  Imp  was  reduced  to  incoherent 
thanks. 

"That's  all  right,"  I  said,  "but  you'd 
better  hurry  off." 

He  obeyed  with  alacrity,  disappear- 
ing in  the  direction  of  the  village, 
while  I  went  on  toward  the  orchard  to 
find  Lisbeth.  And  presently,  sure 
enough,  I  did  find  her — that  is  to  say, 
part  of  her,  for  the  foliage  of  that 
particular  tree  happened  to  be  very 
thick  and  I  could  see  nothing  of  her 
but  a  foot. 

A  positively  delicious  foot  it  was,  too, 
small  and  shapely,  that  swung  auda- 
ciously to  and  fro;  a  foot  in  a  ridic- 
ulously out-of-place  little  patent- 
leather  shoe,  with  a  sheen  of  slender 
silken  ankle  above. 

I  approached  softly,  with  the  soul  of 
me  in  my  eyes,  so  to  speak,  yet,  despite 
my  caution,  she  seemed  to  become 
e>  56  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

aware  of  my  presence  in  some  way—- 
the foot  faltered  in  its  swing  and  van- 
ished as  the  leaves  were  parted  and 
Lisbeth  looked  down  at  me. 

"Oh,  it's  you?"  she  said,  and  I  fan- 
cied she  seemed  quite  pleased.  "You'll 
find  a  step-ladder  somewhere  about — 
it  can't  be  very  far." 

"Thanks,"  I  answered,  "but  I  don't 
want  one." 

"No;  but  /  do;  I  want  to  get  down. 
That  little  wretched  Imp  hid  the  lad- 
der, and  I've  been  here  all  the  after- 
noon," she  wailed. 

"But  then  you  refused  to  be  an  ele- 
phant, you  know,"  I  reminded  her. 

"He  shall  go  to  bed  for  it — directly 
after  tea!"  she  said. 

"Lisbeth,"  I  returned,  "I  firmly  be- 
lieve your  nature  to  be  altogether  too 
sweet  and  forgiving " 

"I  want  to  come  down !" 

"Certainly,"  I  said;  "put  your  left 
foot  in  my  right  hand,  take  firm  hold 

&  57  ^ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

of  the  branch  above  and  let  yourself 
sink  gently  into  my  arms." 

"Oh !"  she  exclaimed  suddenly, 
"here's  Mr.  Selwyn  coming,"  and  fol- 
lowing her  glance,  I  saw  a  distant 
Panama  approaching. 

"Lisbeth,"  said  I,  "are  you  anxious 
to  see  him?" 

"In  this  ridiculous  situation — of 
course  not!" 

"Very  well  then,  hide — just  sit  there 
and  leave  matters  to  me  and " 

"Hush,"  she  whispered,  and  at  that 
moment  Selwyn  emerged  into  full 
view.  Catching  sight  of  me  he 
stopped  in  evident  surprise. 

"I  was  told  I  should  find  Miss  Eliza- 
beth here,"  he  said  stiffly. 

"It  would  almost  appear  that  you 
had  been  misinformed,"  I  answered. 
For  a  moment  he  seemed  undecided 
what  to  do.  Would  he  go  away?  I 
wondered.  Evidently  not,  for  after 
glancing  about  him  he  sat  himself 

£>    58    <3 


• 

v 


CAPRICE 


down  upon  a  rustic  seat  near-by  with 
a  certain  resolute  air  that  I  did  not 
like.  I  must  get  rid  of  him  at  all 
hazards. 

"Sir,"  said  I,  "can  I  trespass  on  your 
generosity  to  the  extent  of  a  match — 
or  say  a  couple?"  After  a  brief  hesita- 
tion he  drew  out  a  very  neat  silver 
match-box,  which  he  handed  to  me. 

"A  fine  day,  sir?"  I  said,  puffing  at 
my  pipe. 

Mr.  Selwyn  made  no  reply. 

"I  hear  that  the  crops  are  looking  par- 
ticularly healthy  this  year,"  I  went  on. 

Mr.  Selwyn  appeared  to  be  utterly 
lost  in  the  contemplation  of  an  ad- 
jacent tree. 

"To  my  mind  an  old  apple  tree  is 
singularly  picturesque,"  I  began  again, 
"nice  nobbly  branches,  don't  you 
know." 

Mr.  Selwyn  began  to  fidget. 

"And  then,"  I  pursued,  "they  tell  me 
that  apples  are  so  good  for  the  blood." 
£>  59  <3 


f//^, 


qHf     <?0       cr# 


II 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Mr.  Selwyn  shifted  his  gaze  to  the 
toe  of  his  riding  boot,  and  for  a  space 
there  was  silence,  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  an  inquisitive  rabbit  crept  up  and 
sat  down  to  watch  us  with  much  in- 
\S|  terest,  until — evidently  remembering 
some  pressing  engagement — he  disap- 
peared with  a  flash  of  his  white 
tail. 

"Talking  of  rabbits,"  said  I,  "they 
are  quite  a  pest  in  Australia,  I  believe, 
and  are  exterminated  by  the  thousand ; 
I  have  often  wondered  if  a  syndicate 
could  not  be  formed  to  acquire  the 
skins — this  idea,  so  far  as  I  know,  is 
original,  but  you  are  quite  welcome  to 

it  if — - 

Mr.  Selwyn  rose  abruptly  to  his  feet. 

"I  once  in  my  boyhood  possessed  a 
rabbit — of  the  lop-eared  variety,"  I 
continued,  "which  overate  itself  and 
died.  I  remember  I  attempted  to  skin 
it  with  dire  results " 

"Sir,"  said  Mr.  Selwyn,  "I  beg  to  in- 

£>    60   <3 

^•ri^zMt*  *IE$&.  ,-B& 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

form  you  that  I  am  not  interested  in 
rabbits,  lop-eared  or  otherwise,  nor  do 
I  propose  to  become  so;  further- 
more  " 

But  at  this  moment  of  my  triumph, 
even  as  he  turned  to  depart,  something 
small  and  white  fluttered  down  from 
the  branches  above,  and  the  next  mo- 
ment Selwyn  had  stooped  and  picked 
up  a  lace  handkerchief.  Then,  while 
he  stared  at  it  and  I  at  him,  there  came 
a  ripple  of  laughter  and  Lisbeth 
peered  down  at  us  through  the  leaves. 

"My  handkerchief — thank  you,"  she 
said,  as  Selwyn  stood  somewhat  taken 
aback  by  her  sudden  appearance. 

"The  trees  hereabouts  certainly  bear 
very  remarkable,  not  to  say  delightful 
fruit,"  he  said. 

"And  as  you  will  remember,  I  was  al- 
ways particularly  fond  of  apple  trees," 
I  interpolated. 

"Mr.  Selwyn,"  smiled  Lisbeth,  "let 
me  introduce  you  to  Mr.  Brent." 
61  <3 


f/K 


,*'OAO       \»  J\f  (I 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Sir,"  said  I,  "I  am  delighted  to 
make  your  acquaintance;  have  heard 
Her  Grace  of  Chelsea  speak  of  you — 
her  friends  are  mine,  I  trust?" 

Mr.  Selwyn's  bow  was  rather  more 
than  distant. 

"I  have  already  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  this — this  very  original  genj 
tleman  before,  and  under  rather  pej 
culiar  circumstances,  Miss  Elizabeth," 
he  said,  and  forthwith  plunged  into  an 
account  of  the  whole  affair  of  the  "am- 
bushes," while  Lisbeth,  perched  upon 
her  lofty  throne,  surveyed  us  with  an 
ever-growing  astonishment. 

"Whatever  does  it  all  mean?"  she  in- 
quired as  Mr.  Selwyn  made  an  end. 

"You  must  know,  then,"  I  explained, 
leaning  upon  my  quarter-staff,  "the 
Imp  took  it  into  his  head  to  become 
Robin  Hood;  I  was  Little- John,  and 
Mr.  Selwyn  here  was  so  very  obliging 
as  to  enact  the  role  of  Sheriff  of  Not- 
tingham  " 

E>  62  <s 


«Qo 

°P? 


f^~~J  *•    «* 

^f     f>Qo 

\\       coo 

^Lj      °0.° 

/  '. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Selwyn  indignantly,  turning  upon  me 
with  a  fiery  eye. 

"Every  one  recollects  the  immortal 
exploits  of  Robin  and  his  'merrie 
men,'  "  I  continued,  "and  you  will, 
of  course,  remember  that  they  had  a 
habit  of  capturing  the  Sheriff  and  ty- 
ing him  up  to  trees  and  things.  Nat- 
urally the  Imp  did  not  proceed  to  that 
extreme.  He  contented  himself  with 
merely  capturing  the  Sheriff's  hat — I 
think  that  you  will  agree  that  those 
'ambushes'  worked  like  a  charm,  Mr. 
Selwyn?" 

"Miss  Elizabeth,"  he  said,  disdain- 
ing any  reply,  "I  am  aware  of  the  af- 
fection you  lavish  upon  your  nephew; 
I  hope  that  you  will  take  measures  to 
restrain  him  from  such  pranks — such 
very  disgraceful  pranks — in  the  fu- 
ture. I  myself  should  suggest  a 
change  of  companionship  [here  he 
glanced  at  me]  as  the  most  salutary 

£>   6}   <3 


If  <r§    o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

method.  Good-afternoon,  Miss  Eliza- 
beth." So  saying,  Mr.  Selwyn  raised 
his  hat,  bowed  stiffly  to  me,  and  turn- 
ing upon  an  indignant  heel,  strode 
haughtily  away. 

"Well!"  exclaimed  Lisbeth,  with  a 
look  of  very  real  concern. 

"Very  well,  indeed!"  I  nodded;  "we 
are  alone  at  last." 

"Oh,  Dick !  but  to  have  offended  him 
like  this!" 

"A  highly  estimable  young  gentle- 
man," I  said,  "though  deplorably  lack- 
ing in  that  saving  sense  of  humour 
which " 

"Aunt  Agatha  seems  to  think  a  great 
deal  of  him." 

"So  I  understand,"  I  nodded. 

"Only  this  morning  I  received  a  let- 
ter from  her,  in  which,  among  other 
things,  she  pointed  out  what  a  very  ex- 
cellent match  he  would  be." 

"And  what  do  you  think?" 

"Oh,  I  agree  with  her,  of  course; 
£>  64  o 


I  A     > 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

his  family  dates  back  ages  and  ages 
before  the  Conqueror,  and  he  has  two 
or  three  estates  besides  Selwyn  Park, 
and  one  in  Scotland." 

"Do  you  know,  Lisbeth,  that  reminds 
me  of  another  house — not  at  all  big 
or  splendid,  but  of  great  age;  a  house 
which  stands  not  far  from  the  village 
of  Down,  in  Kent;  a  house  which  is 
going  to  rack  and  ruin  for  want  of  a 
mistress.  Sometimes,  just  as  evening 
comes  on,  I  think  it  must  dream  of 
the  light  feet  and  gentle  hands  it  has 
known  so  many  years  ago,  and  feels  its 
loneliness  more  than  ever." 

"Poor  old  house!"  said  Lisbeth 
softly. 

"Yes,  a  house  is  very  human,  Lisbeth, 
especially  an  old  one,  and  feels  the 
need  of  that  loving  care  which  only  a 
woman  can  bestow,  just  as  we  do  our- 
selves." 

"Dear  old  house!"  said  Lisbeth, 
more  softly  than  before. 

£>    65    <3 


$?^< 
>^>>&^ 


' 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"How  much  longer  must  it  wait — 
when  will  you  come  and  care  for  it, 
Lisbeth?" 

She  started,  and  I  thought  her  cheeks 
seemed  a  trifle  pinker  than  usual  as 
her  eyes  met  mine. 

"Dick,"  she  said  wistfully,  "I  do 
wish  you  would  get  the  ladder;  it's 
horribly  uncomfortable  to  sit  in  a  tree 
for  hours  and " 

"First  of  all,  Lisbeth,  you  will  for- 
give the  Imp — full  and  freely,  won't 
you?" 

"He  shall  go  to  bed  without  any  tea 
whatever." 

"That  will  be  rank  cruelty,  Lisbeth; 

* 

remember  he  is  a  growing  boy." 

"And  I  have  been  perched  up  here — 
between  heaven  and  earth — all  the 
afternoon." 

0    *.  •"     ^/V) 

"Then  why  not  come  down?"  I  in- 
quired. 
"If  you  will  only  get  the  ladder 


"       " 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"If  you  will  just  put  your  right  foot 
in  my " 

"I  won't!"  said  Lisbeth. 

"As  you  please,"  I  nodded,  and  sit- 
ting down,  mechanically  took  out  my 
pipe  and  began  to  fill  it,  while  she 
opened  her  book,  frowning.  And 
after  she  had  read  very  studiously  for 
perhaps  two  minutes,  she  drew  out 
and  consulted  her  watch.  I  did  the 
same. 

"A  quarter  to  five !"  I  said. 

Lisbeth  glanced  down  at  me  with 
the  air  of  one  who  is  deliberating 
upon  two  courses  of  action,  and  when 
at  length  she  spoke,  every  trace 
of  irritation  had  vanished  com- 
pletely. 

"Dick,  I'm  awfully  hungry." 

"So  am  I,"  I  nodded. 

"It  would  be  nice  to  have  tea  here 

under  the  trees,  wouldn't  it?" 

' 

"It  would  be  positively  idyllic  1"  I 
said. 

E>  67  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Then  if  you  will  please  find  that 
ladder " 

"If  you  will  promise  to  forgive  the 
Imp » 

"Certainly  not!"  she  retorted. 

"So  be  it!"  I  sighed,  and  sat  down 
again.  As  I  did  so  she  launched  her 
book  at  me. 

"Beast!"  she  exclaimed. 

"Which  means  that  you  are  ready  to 
descend?"  I  inquired,  rising  and  de- 
positing the  maltreated  volume  side 
by  side  with  my  pipe  on  a  rustic  table 
near-by;  "very  good.  Place  your 
right  foot  in " 

"Oh,  all  right,"  she  said  quite  pet- 
tishly, and  next  moment  I  had  her  in 
my  arms. 

"Dick !  put  me  down — at  once !" 

"One  moment,  Lisbeth;  that  boy  is  a 
growing  boy " 

"And  shall  go  to  bed  without  any 
tea!"  she  broke  in. 

"Very  well,  then,"  I  said,  and  read- 

£>    68    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

ing  the  purpose  in  my  eyes,  she  at- 
tempted, quite  vainly,  to  turn  her  head 
aside. 

"You  will  find  it  quite  useless  to 
struggle,  Lisbeth,"  I  warned.  "Your 
only  course  is  to  remember  that  he  is 
a  growing  boy." 

"And  you  are  a  brute!"  she  cried. 

"Undoubtedly,"  I  answered,  bending 
my  head  nearer  her  petulant  lips. 
"But  think  of  the  Imp  in  bed,  lying 
there,  sleepless,  tealess,  and  growing 
all  the  while  as  fast  as  he  can." 

Lisbeth  surrendered,  of  course,  but 
my  triumph  was  greatly  tempered 
with  disappointment. 

"You  will  then  forgive  him  for  the 
'ambushes'  and  cherish  him  with  much 
tea?"  I  stipulated,  winking  away  a 
tress  of  hair  that  tickled  most  provok- 
ingly. 

"Yes,"  said  Lisbeth. 

"And  no  bed  until  the  usual  hour?" 

"No,"  she  answered,  quite  subdued; 
£>  69  o 


^**-  w  >*^- 

MY  LADY  CA PRICE 

"and  now  please  do  put  me  down." 
So  I  sighed  and  perforce  obeyed. 

She  stood  for  a  moment  patting  her 
rebellious  hair  into  order  with  deft, 
white  fingers,  looking  up  at  me  mean- 
while with  a  laugh  in  her  eyes  that 
seemed  almost  a  challenge.  I  took  a 
hasty  step  toward  her,  but  as  I  did  so 
the  Imp  hove  into  view,  and  the  op- 
portunity was  lost. 

"Hallo,  Auntie  Lisbeth!"  he  ex- 
claimed, eyeing  her  wonderingly;  then 
his  glance  wandered  round  as  if  in 
quest  of  something. 

"How  did  she  do  it,  Uncle  Dick?" 
he  inquired. 

"Do  what,  my  Imp?" 

"Why,  get  out  of  the  tree?"  I  smiled 
and  looked  at  Lisbeth. 

"Did  she  climb  down?" 

"No,"  said  I,  shaking  my  head. 

"Did  she — jump  down?" 

"No,  she  didn't  jump  down,  my 
Imp." 


'••  /   YfTt/?  N^vMfl  v^y  Mr  -  /    ••'  '•.    v^< 

W  i  *K  \  f i      \.^^^  /SirTS\\^iS3ErA   -sVJ-Jlfl'          r\         • 

y/VH      \St— <5  r  •'" 


CAPRICE 

"Well,  did  she— did  she  fly  down?" 

"No,  nor  fly  down — she  just  came 
down." 

"Yes,  but  how  did  she " 

"Reginald,"  said  Lisbeth,  "run  and 
tell  the  maids  to  bring  tea  out  here — 
for  three." 

"Three?"  echoed  the  Imp.  "But 
Dorothy  has  gone  out  to  tea,  you 
know — is  Uncle  Dick  going  to " 

"To  be  sure,  Imp,"  I  nodded. 

"Oh,  that  is  fine — hurrah,  Little- 
John!"  he  cried,  and  darted  off  to- 
ward the  house. 

"And  you,  Lisbeth?"  I  said,  impris- 
oning her  hands,  "are  you  glad  also?" 

Lisbeth  did  not  speak,  yet  I  was  sat- 
isfied nevertheless. 


71 


III 

THE  DESPERADOES 

FANE  COURT  stands  bowered  in  trees, 
with  a  wide  stretch  of  the  greenest  of 
green  lawns  sloping  down  to  the  river 
stairs. 

They  are  quaint  old  stairs,  with  a 
marble  rail  and  carved  balusters,  worn 
and  crumbling,  yet  whose  decay  is  half 
hid  by  the  kindly  green  of  lichens  and 
mosses;  stairs  indeed  for  an  idle  fel- 
low to  dream  over  on  a  hot  summer's 
afternoon — and  they  were,  moreover, 
a  favourite  haunt  of  Lisbeth.  It  was 
here  that  I  had  moored  my  boat, 
therefore,  and  now  lay  back,  pipe  in 
mouth  and  with  a  cushion  beneath  my 
head,  in  that  blissful  state  between 
sleeping  and  waking. 

Now,    as    I     lay,    from    the     blue 
£>  72  <3 

ft 


K 


IV 


II 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

wreaths  of  my  pipe  I  wove  me  fair 
fancies : 

And  lo !  the  stairs  were  no  longer  de- 
serted; there  were  fine  gentlemen, 
patched  and  powdered,  in  silks  and 
satins,  with  shoe-buckles  that  flashed 
in  the  sun;  there  were  dainty  ladies 
in  quilted  petticoats  and  flowered 
gowns,  with  most  wonderful  coiffures; 
and  there  was  Lisbeth,  fairer  and 
daintier  than  them  all,  and  there,  too, 
was  I.  And  behold  how  demurely  she 
courtesied  and  smiled  behind  her  ivory 
fan!  With  what  a  grace  I  took  a 
pinch  of  snuff!  With  what  an  air  I 
ogled  and  bowed  with  hand  on  heart ! 
Then,  somehow,  it  seemed  we  were 
alone,  she  on  the  top  stair,  I  on  the 
lower.  And  standing  thus  I  raised  my 
arms  to  her  with  an  appealing  gesture. 
Her  eyes  looked  down  into  mine,  the 
patch  quivered  at  the  corner  of  her 
scarlet  mouth,  and  there  beside  it  was 
the  dimple.  Beneath  her  petticoat  I 
&  73  <B 


w 


toy.-* 


LADY  CAPRICE 


saw  her  foot  in  a  little  pink  satin  shoe 
come  slowly  toward  me  and  stop 
again.  I  watched,  scarce  breathing, 
for  it  seemed  my  fate  hung  in  the  bal- 
ance. Would  she  come  down  to  Love 
and  me,  or  - 

"Ship  ahoy!"  cried  a  voice,  and  in 
that  moment  my  dream  vanished.  I 
sighed,  and  looking  round,  .  beheld  a 
head  peering  at  me  over  the  balus- 
trade; a  head  bound  up  in  a  bandanna 
handkerchief  of  large  pattern  and 
vivid  colouring. 

"Why,  Imp  !"  I  exclaimed.  But  my 
surprise  abated  when  he  emerged  into 
full  view. 

About  his  waist  was  a  broad-buckled 
belt,  which  supported  a  wooden  cut- 
lass, two  or  three  murderous  wooden 
daggers  and  a  brace  of  toy  pistols; 
while  upon  his  legs  were  a  pair  of  top- 
boots  many  sizes  too  large  for  him, 
so  that  walking  required  no  little  care. 
Yet  on  the  whole  his  appearance  was 


74  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

decidedly  effective.  There  could  be 
no  mistake — he  was  a  bloodthirsty 
pirate ! 

The  Imp  is  an  artist  to  his  grimy  fin- 
ger-tips. 

"Avast,  shipmate!"  I  cried.  "How's 
the  wind?" 

"Oh,  he  exclaimed,  falling  over  his 
boots  with  eagerness,  "do  take  me  in 
your  boat,  an'  let's  be  pirates,  will  you, 
Uncle  Dick?" 

"Well,  that  depends.  Where  is  your 
Auntie  Lisbeth?" 

"Mr.  Selwyn  is  going  to  row  her  and 
Dorothy  up  the  river." 

"The  deuce  he  is!" 

"Yes,  an'  they  won't  take  me." 

"Why  not,  my  Imp?" 

"  'Cause  they're  'fraid  I  should  upset 
the  boat.  So  I  thought  I'd  come  an' 
ask  you  to  be  a  pirate,  you  know.  I'll 
lend  you  my  best  dagger  an'  one  of 
my  pistols.  Will  you,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Come  aboard,  shipmate,  if  you  are 
£>  75  <s 


& 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

for  Hispaniola,  the  Tortugas,  and  the 
Spanish  Main,"  said  I,  whereupon  he 
scrambled  in,  losing  a  boot  overboard 
in  his  haste,  which  necessitated  much 
intricate  angling  with  the  boat-hook 
ere  it  was  recovered. 

"They're  Peter's,  you  know,"  he  ex- 
plained as  he  emptied  out  the  water. 
"I  took  them  out  of  the  harness-room; 
a  pirate  must  have  boots,  you  know, 
but  I'm  afraid  Peter'll  swear." 

"Not  a  doubt  of  it  when  he  sees 
them,"  I  said  as  we  pushed  off. 

"I  wish,"  he  began,  looking  round 
thoughtfully  after  a  minute  or  so,  "I 
wish  we  could  get  a  plank  or  a  yard- 
arm  from  somewhere." 

"What  for,  my  Imp?" 

"Why,  don't  you  remember,  pirates 
always  had  a  plank  for  people  to 
'walk,'  you  know,  an'  used  to  'swing 
them  up  to  the  yard-arm.' ' 

"You  seem  to  know  all  about  it,"  I 
said  as  I  pulled  slowly  down  stream. 

£>    76    <3 


S£\£ 


iw^  **. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


"Oh,  yes;  I  read  it  all  in  Scarlet  Sam, 
the  Scourge  of  the  South  Seas.  Scarlet 
Sam  was  fine.  He  used  to  stride  up 
and  down  the  quarterdeck  an'  flourish 
his  cutlass,  an'  his  eyes  would  roll, 
an'  he'd  foam  at  the  mouth, 


an' 


"Knock  everybody  into  'the  lee  scup- 
pers,' "  I  put  in. 

"Yes,"  cried  the  Imp  in  a  tone  of  un- 
feigned surprise.  "How  did  you  know 
that,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Once  upon  a  time,"  I  said,  as  I 
swung  lazily  at  the  sculls,  "I  was  a 
boy  myself,  and  read  a  lot  about  a 
gentleman  named  'Beetle-browed  Ben.' 
I  tell  you,  Imp,  he  was  a  terror  for 
foaming  and  stamping,  if  you  like, 
and  used  to  kill  three  or  four  people 
every  morning,  just  to  get  an  appetite 
for  breakfast."  The  Imp  regarded 
me  with  round  eyes. 

"How  fine!"  he  breathed,  hugging 
himself  in  an  ecstasy. 


. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
It  was,"  I  nodded;  "and  then  he 
was  a  very  wonderful  man  in  other 
ways.  You  see,  he  was  always  get- 
ting himself  shot  through  the  head,  or 
run  through  the  body,  but  it  never 
hurt  Beetle-browed  Ben — not  a  bit  of 
it." 

"An*  did  he  'swing  people  at 
the  yard-arm — with  a  bitter 
smile'?" 

"Lots  of  'em!"  I  answered. 

"An'  make  them  'walk  the  plank — 
with  a  horrid  laugh'  ?" 

"By  the  hundred!" 

"An'  'maroon  them  on  a  desolate 
island — with  a  low  chuckle'?" 

"Many  a  time,"  I  answered;  "and 
generally  with  a  chuckle." 

"Oh,  I  should  like  to  read  about 
him!"  said  the  Imp  with  a  deep  sigh; 
"will  you  lend  me  your  book  about 
him,  Uncle  Dick?" 

I  shook  my  head.     "Unfortunately, 
that,  together  with  many  other  valued 
£>  78  <3 


.•**°60   & 


Ja 


. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

. 

possessions,  has  been  ravaged  from 
me  by  the  ruthless  maw  of  Time,"  I 
replied  sadly. 

The  Imp  sat  plunged  in  deep 
thought,  trailing  his  fingers  pensively 
in  the  water. 

"And  so  your  Auntie  Lisbeth  is  go- 
ing for  a  row  with  Mr.  Selwyn,  is 
she?"  I  said. 

"Yes,  an'  I  told  her  she  could  come 
an'  be  a  pirate  with  me  if  she  liked — 
but  she  wouldn't." 

"Strange !"  I  murmured. 

"Uncle  Dick,  do  you  think  Auntie 
Lisbeth  is  in  love  with  Mr.  Selwyn?" 

"What?"  I  exclaimed,  and  stopped 
rowing. 

"I  mean,  do  you  think  Mr. 
Selwyn  is  in  love  with  Auntie 
Lisbeth?" 

"My  Imp,  I'm  afraid  he  is.    Why?" 

'  'Cause  cook  says  he  is,  an'  so  does 
Jane,  an'  they  know  all  about  love, 
you  know.  I've  heard  them  read  it 
£>  79  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

out  of  a  book  lots  an'  lots  of  times. 
But  I  think  love  is  awfull'  silly,  don't 
you,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Occasionally  I  greatly  fear  so,"  I 
sighed. 

"You  wouldn't  go  loving  anybody, 
would  you,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Not  if  I  could  help  it,"  I  answered, 
shaking  my  head;  "but  I  do  love  some 
one,  and  that's  the  worst  of  it." 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  the  Imp,  but  in  a 
tone  more  of  sorrow  than  anger. 

"Don't  be  too  hard  on  me,  Imp,"  I 
said;  "your  turn  may  come  when  you 
are  older;  you  may  love  somebody 
one  of  these  days." 

The  Imp  frowned  and  shook  his 
head.  "No,"  he  answered  sternly; 
"when  I  grow  up  big  I  shall  keep  fer- 
rets. Ben,  the  gardener's  boy,  has 
one  with  the  littlest,  teeniest  pink  nose 
you  ever  saw." 

"Certainly  a  ferret  has  its  advan- 
tages, I  mused.  "A  ferret  will  not 
s>  80  « 


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7 


. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

frown  upon  one  one  minute  and  flash 
a  dimple  at  one  the  next.  And  then, 
again,  a  ferret  cannot  be  reasonably 
supposed  to  possess  an  aunt.  There 
is  something  to  be  said  for  your  idea 
after  all,  Imp." 

"Why,  then,  let's  be  pirates,  Uncle 
Dick,"  he  said  with  an  air  of  finality. 
"I  think  I'll  be  Scarlet  Sam,  'cause  I 
know  all  about  him,  an'  you  can  be 
Timothy  Bone,  the  boatswain." 

"Aye,  aye,  sir,"  I  responded 
promptly;  "only  I  say,  Imp,  don't  roll 
your  eyes  so  frightfully  or  you  may 
roll  yourself  overboard." 

Scorning  reply,  he  drew  his  cutlass, 
and  setting  it  between  his  teeth  in  most 
approved  pirate  fashion,  sat,  pistol  in 
hand,  frowning  terrifically  at  creation 
in  general. 

"Starboard  your  helm — starboard!" 
he  cried,  removing  his  weapon  for  the 
purpose. 

"Starboard  it  is!"  I  answered. 

£>   8l    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


"Clear  away  for  action!"  growled 
the  Imp.  "Double-shot  the  cannon- 
ades, and  bo'sun,  pipe  all  hands  to 
quarters." 

Hereupon  I  executed  a  lively  imita- 
tion of  a  boatswain's  whistle. 

Most  children  are  blessed  with  imagr 
ination,  but  the  Imp  in  this  respect  is 
gifted  beyond  his  years.  For  him 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  "pretence"; 
he  has  but  to  close  his  eyes  a  moment 
to  open  them  upon  a  new  and  a  very 
real  world  of  his  own — the  golden 
world  of  Romance,  wherein  so  few  of 
us  are  privileged  to  walk  in  these  cold 
days  of  common-sense.  And  yet  it  is 
a  very  fair  world,  peopled  with  giants 
and  fairies;  where  castles  lift  their 
grim,  embattled  towers;  where  magic 
woods  and  forests  cast  their  shade, 
full  of  strange  beasts;  where  knights 
ride  forth  with  lance  in  rest  and  their 
armour  shining  in  the  sun.  And  right 
well  we  know  them.  There  is  Roland, 
E>  82  <3 

&**  j&>./r*jN8 


T  \ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Sir  William  Wallace,  and  Hereward 
the  Wake ;  Ivanhoe,  the  Black  Knight, 
and  bold  Robin  Hood.  There  is 
Amyas  Leigh,  old  Salvation  Yeo,  and 
that  lovely  rascal  Long  John  Silver. 
And  there,  too,  is  King  Arthur,  with 
his  Knights  of  the  Round  Table — but 
the  throng  is  very  great,  and  who 
could  name  them  all? 

So  the  Imp  and  I  sailed  away  into 
this  wonderful  world  of  romance 
aboard  our  gallant  vessel,  which,  like 
any  other  pirate  ship  that  ever  existed 
— in  books  or  out  of  them — "luffed, 
and  filling  upon  another  tack,  stood 
away  in  pursuit  of  the  Spanish  treas- 
ure galleon  in  the  offing." 

What  pen  could  justly  describe  the 
fight  which  followed — how  guns 
roared  and  pistols  flashed,  while  the 
air  was  full  of  shouts  and  cries  and  the 
thundering  din  of  battle;  how  Scarlet 
Sam  foamed  and  stamped  and  flour- 
ished his  cutlass;  how  Timothy  Bone 
£>  83  <3 


H 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

piped  his  whistle  as  a  bo'sun  should? 
We  had  already  sunk  five  great  gal- 
leons and  were  hard  at  work  with  a 
sixth,  which  was  evidently  in  a  bad 
way,  when  Scarlet  Sam  ceased  foaming 
and  pointed  over  my  shoulder  with  his 
dripping  blade. 

"Sail  ho!"  he  cried. 

"Where  away?"  I  called  back. 

"Three  points  on  the  weather  bow." 
As  he  spoke  came  the  sound  of  oars, 
and  turning  my  head,  I  saw  a  skiff 
approaching,  sculled  by  a  man  in 
irreproachable  flannels  and  straw 
hat. 

"Why,  it's — it's  him!"  cried  the  Imp 
suddenly.  "Heave  to,  there !"  he  bel- 
lowed in  the  voice  of  Scarlet  Sam. 
"Heave  to,  or  I'll  sink  you  with  a 
'murderous  broadside !' '  Almost 
with  the  words,  and  before  I  could 
prevent  him,  he  gave  a  sharp  tug  to 
the  rudder  lines;  there  was  an  angry 
exclamation  behind  me,  a  shock,  a 
£>  84  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

splintering  of  wood,  and  I  found  my- 
self face  to  face  with  Mr.  Selwyn, 
flushed  and  hatless. 

"Damn!"  said  Mr.  Selwyn,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  fish  for  his  hat  with  the 
shaft  of  his  broken  oar. 

The  Imp  sat  for  a  moment  half 
frightened  at  his  handiwork,  then  rose 
to  his  feet,  cutlass  in  hand,  but  I 
punted  him  gently  back  into  his  seat 
with  my  foot. 

"Really,"  I  began,  "I'm  awfully 
sorry,  you  know — er " 

"May  I  inquire,"  said  Mr.  Selwyn 
cuttingly,  as  he  surveyed  his  dripping 
hat — "may  I  inquire  how  it  all  hap- 
pened?" 

"A  most  deplorable  accident,  I  as- 
sure you.  If  I  can  tow  you  back  I 
shall  be  delighted,  and  as  for  the  dam- 
age " 

"The  damage  is  trifling,  thanks,"  he 
returned  icily;  "it  is  the  delay  that  I 
find  annoying." 

D  85  o 


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MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"You  have  my  very  humblest  apolo- 
gies," I  said  meekly.  "If  I  can 

be  of  any  service "  Mr.  Selwyn 

stopped  me  with  a  wave  of  his 
hand. 

"Thank  you,  I  think  I  can  manage," 
he  said;  "but  I  should  rather  like  to 
know  how  it  happened.  You  are  un- 
used to  rowing,  I  presume  ?" 

"Sir,"  I  answered,  "it  was  chiefly 
owing  to  the  hot-headedness  of  Scar- 
let Sam,  the  Scourge  of  the  South 
Seas." 

"I  beg  your  pardon?"  said  Mr.  Sel- 
wyn with  raised  brows. 

"Sir,"  I  went  on,  "at  this  moment 
you  probably  believe  yourself  to  be 
Mr.  Selwyn  of  Selwyn  Park.  Allow 
me  to  dispel  that  illusion;  you  are,  on 
the  contrary,  Don  Pedro  Vasquez  da 
Silva,  commanding  the  Esmeralda 
galleasse,  bound  out  of  Santa  Crux. 
In  us  you  behold  Scarlet  Sam  and 
Timothy  Bone,  of  the  good  ship 
D  86  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Black  Death,  with  the  'skull  and  cross- 
bones'  fluttering  at  our  peak.  If  you 
don't  see  it,  that  is  not  our  fault." 

Mr.  Selwyn  stared  at  me  in  wide- 
eyed  astonishment,  then  shrugging  his 
shoulders,  turned  his  back  upon  me 
and  paddled  away  as  best  he  might. 

"Well,  Imp,"  I  said,  "you've  done 
it  this  time!" 

"  'Fraid  I  have,"  he  returned;  "but 
oh!  wasn't  it  grand — and  all  that 
about  Don  Pedro  an'  the  treasure  gal- 
leon !  I  do  wish  I  knew  as  much  as 
you  do,  Uncle  Dick.  I'd  be  a  real 
pirate  then." 

"Heaven  forfend!"  I  exclaimed. 

So  I  presently  turned  and  rowed 
back  upstream,  not  a  little  perturbed 
in  my  mind  as  to  the  outcome  of  the 
adventure. 

"Not  a  word,  mind!"   I  cautioned 

as  I  caught  sight  of  a  certain  dainty 

figure   watching  our   approach   from 

the  shade  of  her  parasol.     The  Imp 

£>  87  <3 


nodded,  sighed,  and  sheathed  his  cut- 
lass. 

"Well!"  said  Lisbeth  as  we  glided 
up  to  the  water-stairs;  "I  wonder 
what  mischief  you  have  been  after  to- 
gether?" 

"We  have  been  floating  upon  a  river 
of  dreams,"  I  answered,  rising  and 
lifting  my  hat;  "we  have  likewise  dis- 
coursed of  many  things.  In  the  words 
of  the  immortal  Carroll : 

"  'Of  shoes,  and  ships,  and  sealing 
wax,  and  cabbages,  and ' ' 

"Pirates  I"  burst  out  the  Imp. 

"This  dream  river  of  ours,"  I  went 
on,  quelling  him  with  a  glance,  "has 
carried  us  to  you,  which  is  very  right 
and  proper.  Dream  rivers  always 
should,  more  especially  when  you  sit 

"  '  'Mid  sunshine  throned,  and  all 
alone.'  " 

"But  I'm  not  all  alone,  Dick." 

£>   88   <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"No;  I'm  here,"  said  a  voice,  and 
Dorothy  appeared  with  her  small  and 
very  fluffy  kitten  under  her  arm  as 
usual.  "We  are  waiting  for  Mr.  Sel- 
wyn,  you  know.  We've  waited,  oh! 
a  long,  long  time,  but  he  hasn't  come, 
and  Auntie  says  he's  a  beast, 
and " 

"Dorothy  1"  exclaimed  Lisbeth, 
frowning. 

"Yes,  you  did,  Auntie,"  said  Dor- 
othy, nodding  her  head.  "I  heard  you 
when  Louise  ran  up  a  tree  and  I  had 
to  coax  her  back;  and  I  have  a  clean 
frock  on,  too,  and  Louise  will  be  oh 
so  disappointed!"  Here  she  kissed  the 
fluffy  kitten  on  the  nose.  "So  he  is 
a  beast;  don't  you  think  so,  Uncle 
Dick?" 

"Such  delay  is  highly  reprehensible," 
I  nodded. 

"I'm  glad  you've  come,  Uncle  Dick, 
and  so  is  Auntie.  She  was  hop- 
ing " 


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i^J^K^^^:^::^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-  $^~s* 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"That  will  do,  Dorothy!"  Lisbeth 
interrupted. 

"I  wonder  what  she  was  hoping?"  I 
sighed. 

"If  you  say  another  word,  Dorothy, 
I  won't  tell  you  any  more  about  the 

Fairy  Prince,"  said  Lisbeth. 

*  ' 

"Why,  then,"  I  continued,  seeing 
the  threat  had  the  desired  effect, 
"since  Mr.  Selwyn  hasn't  turned  up, 
perhaps  you  would  care  to " 

— "Be  a  pirate?"  put  in  the  Imp. 

"To  come  for  a  row  with  us?"  I  cor- 
rected. 

— "Aboard  the  good  ship  Black 
Death"  he  went  on,  "  'with  the  skull 
an'  cross-bones  at  our  peak.' ' 

"Thanks,"  said  Lisbeth,  "but  really, 
I  don't  think  I  should.  What  a  hor- 
rible name!" 

"What's  in  a  name?  a  boat  by  any 
other — "  I  misquoted.  "If  you  like, 
we'll  call  it  the  Joyful  Hope,  bound 
for  the  Land  of  Heart's  Delight." 

£>    9O    <3 


1 


^^1 

CAPRICE 

Lisbeth  shook  her  head,  but  I  fancied 
the  dimple  peeped  at  me  for  a  mo- 
ment. 

"It  would  be  a  pity  to  disappoint 
Louise,"  I  said,  reaching  up  to  stroke 
the  fluffy  kitten. 

"Yes,"  cried  Dorothy,  "do  let's  go, 
Auntie." 

"For  the  sake  of  Louise,"  I  urged, 
and  held  out  my  arms  to  her.  Lisbeth 
was  standing  on  the  top  stair  and  I  on 
the  lower,  in  exactly  the  same  atti- 
tudes as  I  had  beheld  in  my  vision.  I 
saw  her  foot  come  slowly  toward  me 
and  stop  again;  her  red  lips  quivered 
into  a  smile,  and  lo,  there  was  the 
dimple!  Dorothy  saw  it,  too — chil- 
dren are  wonderfully  quick  in  such 
matters — and  next  moment  was  en- 
sconced in  the  boat,  Louise  in  her  lap, 
and  there  was  nothing  left  for  Lisbeth 
but  to  follow. 

The  Imp  went  forward  to  keep  a 
"lookout,"  and  finding  a  length  of 
£>  91  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


fishing  line,   announced  his  intention 
of  "heaving  the  lead." 

I  have  upon  several  occasions  ridden 
with  Lisbeth — she  is  a  good  horse- 
woman— frequently  danced  with  her, 
but  never  before  had  I  been  with  her 
in  a  boat.  The  novelty  of  it  was 
therefore  decidedly  pleasing,  the  more 
so  as  she  sat  so  close  that  by  furtively 
reaching  out  a  foot  I  could  just  touch 
the  hem  of  her  dress. 

"Uncle  Dick,"  said  Dorothy,  look- 
ing up  at  me  with  her  big  grey  eyes, 
"where  is  the  Land  of  Heart's  De- 
light?" 

"It     lies     beyond     the     River 
Dreams,"  I  answered. 

"Is  it  far  away?" 

"I'm  afraid  it  is,   Dorothy." 

"Oh! — and  hard  to  get  to?" 

"Yes;  though  it  depends  altogether 

upon  who  is  at  the  helm." 

Lisbeth  very  slowly  began  to  tie  a 
knot  in  the  rudder-line. 


of 


£>   92   <3 


A 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Well,  Auntie's  steering  now.  Could 
she  get  us  there?" 

"Yes,  she  could  get  us  there,  if  she 
would." 

"Oh  I"  cried  Dorothy,  "do— do 
steer  for  the  Land  of  Heart's  Delight, 
Auntie  Lisbeth;  it  sounds  so  pretty, 
and  I'm  sure  Louise  would  like  it  ever 
so  much." 

But  Lisbeth  only  laughed,  and  tied 
another  knot  in  the  rudder-line. 

"The  Land  of  Heart's  Delight  I"  re- 
peated Dorothy.  "It  sounds  rather 
like  Auntie's  tale  of  the  Fairy  Prince. 
His  name  was  Trueheart." 

"And  what  was  Prince  Trueheart 
like?"  I  inquired. 

"Fine!"  broke  in  the  Imp.  "He 
used  to  fight  dragons,  you  know." 

"And  he  lived  in  a  palace  of  crystal," 
continued  Dorothy,  "and  he  was  so 
good  and  kind  that  the  birds  used  to 
make  friends  with  him !" 

"An'  he  wore  gold  armour,  an'  a 
93  <2 


7  W 

'    •*     *• 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

big  feather  in  his  helmet!"  supple- 
mented the  Imp. 

"And  of  course  he  loved  the  beauti- 
ful princess,"  I  ended. 

"Yes,"  nodded  Dorothy;  "but  how 
did  you  know  there  was  a  beautiful 
princess?" 

"Uncle  Dick  knows  everything,  of 
course,"  returned  the  Imp  senten- 
tiously. 

"Do  you  think  the  beautiful  princess 
loved  the  prince,  Dorothy?"!  asked, 
glancing  at  Lisbeth's  averted  face. 

"Well,"  answered  Dorothy,  pursing 
her  mouth  thoughtfully,  "I  don't 
know,  Uncle  Dick;  you  see,  Auntie 
hasn't  got  to  that  yet,  but  everybody 
loves  somebody  sometime,  you  know. 
Betty — she's  our  cook,  you  know — 
Betty  says  all  nice  tales  end  up  in  mar- 
rying and  living  happy  ever  after." 

"Not  a  doubt  of  it,"  said  I,  resting 
on  my  oars.  "What  do  you  think, 
Lisbeth?"  She  leaned  back  and  re- 


T™ 


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LADY  CAPRICE 

garded  me  demurely  beneath  her  long 
lashes  for  a  moment. 

"I  think,"  she  answered,  "that  it 
would  be  much  nicer  if  you  would  go 
on  rowing." 

"One  more  question,"  I  said.  "Tell 
me,  has  this  Prince  Trueheart  got  a 
moustache?" 

"Like  Mr.  Selwyn?"  cried  the  Imp; 
"should  think  not.  The  prince  was  a 
fine  chap,  an'  used  to  kill  dragons,  you 
know." 

"Ah!  I'm  glad  of  that,"  I  mur- 
mured, passing  my  fingers  across  my 
shaven  upper  lip;  "very  glad  indeed." 
Lisbeth  laughed,  but  I  saw  her  colour 
deepen  and  she  looked  away. 

"Oh,  it  must  be  lovely  to  kill  a 
dragon!"  sighed  the  Imp. 

Now,  as  he  spoke,  chancing  to  look 
round,  I  saw  in  the  distance  a  man  in 
a  boat,  who  rowed  most  lustily — and 
the  man  wore  a  Panama. 

Hereupon,  taking  a  fresh  grip  upon 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

my  long  sculls,  I  began  to  row — to 
row,  indeed,  as  I  had  not  done  for 
many  a  year,  with  a  long,  steady 
stroke  that  made  the  skiff  fairly  leap. 

Who  does  not  know  that  feeling  of 
exhilaration  as  the  blades  grip  the 
water  and  the  gentle  lapping  at  the 
bow  swells  into  a  gurgling  song?" 
The  memorable  time  when  I  had 
"stroked"  Cambridge  to  victory  was 
nothing  to  this.  Then  it  was  but 
empty  glory  that  hung  in  the  balance, 
while  now ! 

I  settled  my  feet  more  firmly,  and 
lengthening  my  stroke,  pulled  with  a 
will.  Lisbeth  sat  up,  and  I  saw  her 
fingers  tighten  upon  the  rudder-lines. 

"You  asked  me  to  row,  you  know," 
I  said  in  response  to  her  look. 

"Yo  ho !"  roared  Scarlet  Sam  in  the 
gruffest  of  nautical  tones.  "By  the 
deep  nine,  an'  the  wind's  a-lee,  so 
heave,  my  mariners  all — O !" 

At  first  we  began  to  gain  consider- 
s>  96  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

ably  upon  our  pursuer,  but  presently 
I  saw  him  turn  his  head,  saw  the 
Panama  tossed  aside  as  Mr.  Selwyn 
settled  down  to  real  business — and  the 
struggle  began. 

Very  soon,  probably  owing  to  the 
fixedness  of  my  gaze,  or  my  unremit- 
ting exertion,  or  both,  Lisbeth  seemed 
to  become  aware  of  the  situation,  and 
turned  to  look  over  her  shoulder.  I 
set  my  teeth  as  I  waited  to  meet  her 
indignant  look,  for  I  had  determined 
to  continue  the  struggle,  come  what 
might.  But  when  at  last  she  did  con- 
front me  her  eyes  were  shining,  her 
cheeks  were  flushed  and  there  actually 
was — the  dimple. 

"Sit  still,  children,"  she  said,  and 
that  was  all;  but  for  one  moment  her 
eyes  looked  into  mine. 

The  old  river  has  witnessed  many  a 

hard-fought  race  in  its  time,  but  never 

was  there  one  more  hotly  contested 

than  this.    Never  was  the  song  of  the 

e>  97  <s 


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LADY  CAPRICE 


50 
oAo 


water  more  pleasant  to  my  ear,  never 
was  the  spring  and  bend  of  the  long 
sculls  more  grateful,  as  the  banks 
swept  by  faster  and  faster.  No  pirate 
straining  every  inch  of  canvas  to  es- 
cape well-merited  capture,  no  smug- 
gler fleeing  for  some  sheltered  cove, 
with  the  revenue  cutter  close  astern, 
ever  experienced  a  keener  excitement 
than  did  we. 

The  Imp  was  in  a  perfect  ecstasy 
of  delight;  even  Dorothy  forgot 
her  beloved  Louise  for  the  time, 
while  Lisbeth  leaner  toward  me,  the 
tiller-lines  over  her  shoulders,  her 
lips  parted  and  a  light  in  her  eyes  I 
had  never  seen  there  before.  And  yet 
Selwyn  hung  fast  in  our  rear.  If  he 
was  deficient  in  a  sense  of  humour,  he 
could  certainly  row. 

"He  was  an  Oxford  Blue,"  said  Lis- 
beth, speaking  almost  in  a  whisper, 
"and  he  has  an  empty  boat!" 

I  longed  to  kiss  the  point  of  her  lit- 
98  <z 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

tie  tan  shoe  or  the  hem  of  her  dress  for 
those  impulsive  words,  and  tried  to 
tell  her  so  with  my  eyes — breath  was 
too  precious  just  then.  Whether  she 
understood  or  not  I  won't  be  sure,  but 
I  fancy  she  did  from  the  way  her 
lashes  drooped. 

"Oh,  my  eyes!"  bellowed  Scarlet 
Sam;  "keep  her  to  it,  quartermaster, 
an'  take  a  turn  at  the  mizzen- 
shrouds!" 

When  I  again  glanced  at  our  pur- 
suer I  saw  that  he  was  gaining.  Yes, 
there  could  be  no  mistake ;  slowly  but 
surely,  try  as  I  would,  the  distance  be- 
tween us  lessened  and  lessened,  until 
he  was  so  near  that  I  could  discern  the 
very  parting  of  his  back  hair.  So, 
perforce,  bowing  to  the  inevitable, 
I  ceased  my  exertions,  contenting 
myself  with  a  long,  easy  stroke.  Thus 
by  the  time  he  was  alongside  I 
had  in  some  measure  recovered  my 
breath. 

E>  99  o 


1 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Miss — Eliz — beth,"  he  panted, 
very  hot  of  face  and  moist  of  brow, 
"must  beg — the — favour — of  few 
words  with  you." 

"With  pleasure,  Mr.  Selwyn,"  an- 
swered Lisbeth,  radiant  with  smiles; 
"as  many  as  you  wish."  Forthwith 
Mr.  Selwyn  panted  out  his  indictment 
against  the  desperadoes  of  the  Black 
Death,  while  the  Imp  glanced  appre- 
hensively from  him  to  Lisbeth  and 
stole  his  hand  furtively  into  mine. 

"I  should  not  have  troubled  you  with 
this,  Miss  Elizabeth,"  Selwyn  ended, 
"but  that  I  would  not  have  you  think 
me  neglectful  of  an  appointment,  es- 
pecially with  you." 

"Indeed,  Mr.  Selwyn,  I  am  very 
grateful  to  you  for  opening  my  eyes 
to  such  a — a " 

"Very  deplorable  accident,"  I  put  in. 

"I — I  was  perfectly  certain,"  she 
continued,  without  so  much  as  glanc- 
ing in  my  direction,  "that  you  would 

£>    IOO   <3 


4>  \ 


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CAPRICE 


never  have  kept  me  waiting  without 
sufficient  reason.  And  now,  Mr. 
Brent,  if  you  will  be  so  obliging  as  to 
take  us  to  the  bank,  Mr.  Selwyn  shall 
row  us  back  —  if  he  will." 

"Delighted!"  he  murmured. 

"I  ordered  tea  served  in  the  orchard 
at  five  o'clock,"  smiled  Lisbeth,  "and 
it  is  only  just  four,  so  -  " 

"Which  bank  would  you  prefer,"  I 
inquired  —  "the  right  or  the  left?" 

"The  nearest,"  said  Lisbeth. 

"Which  should  you  think  was  the 
nearest,  Mr.  Selwyn?"  I  queried. 

Disdaining  any  reply,  Selwyn  ran  his 
skiff  ashore,  and  I  obediently  fol- 
lowed. Without  waiting  for  my  as- 
sistance, Lisbeth  deftly  made  the  ex- 
change from  one  boat  to  the  other, 
followed  more  slowly  by  Dorothy. 

"Come,  Reginald,"  she  said,  as  Sel- 
wyn made  ready  to  push  off;  "we're 
waiting  for  you!"  The  Imp  squatted 
closer  to  me. 

D    IOI    <3 


R 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Reginald  Augustus!"  said  Lisbeth. 
The  Imp  shuffled  uneasily. 

"Are  you  coming?"  inquired  Lisbeth. 

"I — I'd  rather  be  a  pirate  with 
Uncle  Dick,  please,  Auntie  Lisbeth," 
he  said  at  last. 

"Very  well,"  nodded  Lisbeth  with  an 
air  of  finality;  "then  of  course  I  must 
punish  you."  But  her  tone  was 
strangely  gentle,  and  as  she  turned 
away  I'll  swear  I  saw  the  ghost  of 
that  dimple — yes,  I'll  swear  it. 

So  we  sat  very  lonely  and  dejected, 
the  Imp  and  I,  desperadoes  though  we 
were,  as  we  watched  Sehvyn's  boat 
grow  smaller  and  smaller  until  it  was 
lost  round  a  bend  in  the  river. 

"  'Spect  I  shall  get  sent  to  bed  for 
this,"  said  the  Imp  after  a  long  pause. 

"I  think  it  more  than  probable,  my 
Imp." 

"But  then,  it  was  a  very  fine  race — 
oh,  beautiful!"  he  sighed;  "an'  I 
couldn't  desert  my  ship  an'  Timothy 

£>    IO2    <3 


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MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Bone,  an'  leave  you  here  all  by  your- 
self— now  could  I,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Of  course  not,  Imp." 

"What  are  you  thinking  about, 
Uncle  Dick?"  he  inquired  as  I  stared, 
chin  in  hand,  at  nothing  in  particular. 

"I  was  wondering,  Imp,  where  the 
River  of  Dreams  was  going  to  lead 
me,  after  all." 

"To  the  Land  of  Heart's  Delight, 
of  course,"  he  answered  promptly; 
"you  said  so,  you  know,  an'  you  never 
tell  lies,  Uncle  Dick — never." 


£>  103  <3 


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IV 

MOON  MAGIC 

THE  Three  Jolly  Anglers  is  an  inn  of 
a  distinctly  jovial  aspect,  with  its  top- 
pling gables,  its  creaking  sign,  and  its 
bright  lattices,  which,  like  merry  lit- 
tle twinkling  eyes,  look  down  upon 
the  eternal  river  to-day  with  the  same 
half-waggish,  half-kindly  air  as  they 
have  done  for  generations. 

Upon  its  battered  sign,  if  you  look 
closely  enough,  you  may  still  see  the 
Three  Anglers  themselves,  somewhat 
worn  and  dim  with  time  and  stress  of 
weather,  yet  preserving  their  jollity 
through  it  all  with  an  heroic  fortitude 
— as  they  doubtless  will  do  until  they 
fade  away  altogether. 

It  is  an  inn  with  raftered  ceilings, 

and  narrow,  winding  passageways;  an 

£>  104  o 


H  \vr 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

inn  with  long,  low  chambers  full  of 
unexpected  nooks  and  corners,  with 
great  four-post  beds  built  for  tired 
giants  it  would  seem,  and  wide,  deep 
chimneys  reminiscent  of  Gargantuan 
rounds  of  beef;  an  inn  whose  very 
walls  seem  to  exude  comfort,  as  it 
were — the  solid  comfortable  comfort 
of  a  bygone  age. 

Of  all  the  many  rooms  here  to  be 
found  I  love  best  that  which  is  called 
the  Sanded  Parlour.  Never  were 
wainscoted  walls  of  a  mellower  tone, 
never  was  pewter  more  gleaming, 
never  were  things  more  bright  and 
speckless,  from  the  worn,  quaint  an- 
dirons on  the  hearth  to  the  brass- 
bound  blunderbuss,  with  the  two  an- 
cient fishing-rods  above.  At  one  end 
of  the  room  was  a  long,  low  casement, 
and  here  I  leaned,  watching  the  river 
near-by,  and  listening  to  its  never-ceas- 
ing murmur.  I  had  dined  an  hour 
ago;  the  beef  had  been  excellent — it 
£>  105  <s 


A  4- 


10* 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

always  is  at  the  Three  Jolly  Anglers 
— and  the  ale  beyond  all  criticism; 
also  my  pipe  seemed  to  have  an  added 
flavour. 

Yet  despite  all  this  I  did  not  enjoy 
that  supreme  content — that  philosoph- 
ical calm  which  such  beef  and  such  ale 
surely  warranted.  But  then,  who  ever 
heard  of  Love  and  Philosophy  going 
together  ? 

Away  over  the  uplands  a  round,  har- 
vest moon  was  beginning  to  rise, 
flecking  the  shadowy  waters  with 
patches  of  silver,  and,  borne  to  my  ears 
upon  the  warm,  still  air,  came  the 
throb  of  distant  violins.  This  served 
only  to  deepen  my  melancholy,  re- 
minding me  that  somebody  or  other 
was  giving  a  ball  to-night;  and  Lis- 
beth  was  there,  and  Mr.  Selwyn  was 
there,  of  course,  and  I — I  was  here — 
alone  with  the  brass-bound  blunder- 
buss, the  ancient  fishing-rods  and  the 
antique  andirons  on  the  hearth;  with 
E>  106  <s 


'1 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


none  to  talk  to  save  the  moon,  and  the 
jasmine  that  had  crept  in  at  the  open 
casement.  And  noting  the  splendour 
of  the  night,  I  experienced  towards 
Lisbeth  a  feeling  of  pained  surprise, 
that  she  should  prefer  the  heat  and 
garish  glitter  of  a  ball-room  to  walk- 
ing beneath  such  a  moon  with  me. 

Indeed,  it  was  a  wondrous  night! 
one  of  those  warm,  still  nights  which 
seem  full  of  vague  and  untold  possi- 
bilities! A  night  with  magic  in  the 
air,  when  elves  and  fairies  dance 
within  their  grassy  rings,  or  hiding 
amid  the  shade  of  trees,  peep  out  at 
one  between  the  leaves;  or  again, 
some  gallant  knight  on  mighty  steed 
may  come  pacing  slowly  from  the 
forest  shadows,  with  the  moonlight 
bright  upon  his  armour. 

Yes,  surely  there  was  magic  in  the 
air  to-night !  I  half  wished  that  some 
enchanter  might,  by  a  stroke  of  his 
fairy  wand,  roll  back  the  years  and 

£>    IO7    <3 

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t. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

leave  me  in  the  brutal,  virile,  Good 
Old  Times,  when  men  wooed  and  won 
their  loves  by  might  and  strength  of 
arm,  and  not  by  gold,  as  is  so  often 
the  case  in  these  days  of  ours.  To  be 
mounted  upon  my  fiery  steed,  lance  in 
hand  and  sword  on  thigh,  riding  down 
the  leafy  alleys  of  the  woods  yonder, 
led  by  the  throbbing,  sighing  melody. 
To  burst  upon  the  astonished  dancers 
like  a  thunder-clap;  to  swing  her  up 
to  my  saddle-bow,  and  clasped  in  each 
other's  arms,  to  plunge  into  the  green 
mystery  of  forest. 

My  fancies  had  carried  me  thus  far 
when  I  became  aware  of  a  small,  fur- 
tive figure,  dodging  from  one  patch 
of  shadow  to  another.  Leaning  from 
the  window,  I  made  out  the  form  of 
a  somewhat  disreputable  urchin,  who, 
dropping  upon  hands  and  knees,  pro- 
ceeded to  crawl  towards  me  over  the 
grass  with  a  show  of  the  most  elab- 
orate caution. 

£>  108  <3 


^ 


CAPRICE 

"Hallo !"  I  exclaimed,  "halt  and  give 
the  counter-sign!"  The  urchin  sat  up 
on  his  heels  and  stared  at  me  with  a 
pair  of  very  round,  bright  eyes. 

"Please,  are  you  Mr.  Uncle  Dick?" 
he  inquired. 

"Oh,"  I  said,  "you  come  from  the 
Imp,  I  presume."  The  boy  nodded  a 
round  head,  at  the  same  time  fumbling 
with  something  in  his  pocket. 

"And  whom  may  you  be?"  I  in- 
quired, conversationally. 

"I'm  Ben,  I  am." 

"The  gardener's  boy?"  Again  the 
round  head  nodded  acquiescence,  as 
with  much  writhing  and  twisting  he 
succeeded  in  drawing  a  heterogeneous 
collection  of  articles  from  his  pocket, 
whence  he  selected  a  very  dirty  and 
crumpled  piece  of  paper. 

"He  wants  a  ladder  so's  he  can  git 
out,  but  it's  too  big  fer  me  to  lift,  so 
he  told  me  to  give  you  this  here  so's 
you  would  come  an'  rescue  him — 
109  <3  i 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
please,     Mr.     Uncle    Dick."      With 
which  lucid  explanation  Ben  handed 
me  the  crumpled  note. 

Spreading  it  out  upon  the  window- 
sill,  I  managed  to  make  out  as  fol- 
lows: 

DEAR  UNKEL  DICK:  I'm  riting  this 
with  my  hart's  blood  bekors  I'm  a 
prisner  in  a  gloomie  dungun.  It  isn't 
really  my  hart's  blood  it's  only  red 
ink,  so  don't  worry.  Aunty  lisbath 
cent  me  to  bed  just  after  tea  bekors 
she  said  I'm  norty,  and  when  she'd 
gone  Nurse  locked  me  in  so  i  can't  get 
out  and  i'm  tired  of  being  a  prisner, 
so  please  i  want  you  to  get  the  ladda 
and  let  me  eskape,  please  unkel  dick, 
will  you. 

yours  till  deth, 

REGINALD  AUGUSTUS. 

^  Auntie  was  reading  Ivanhoe  to  us  and 
iVe  been  the  Black  Knight  and  you 
can  be  Gurth  the  swine-herd  if  you 
like. 

"So  that's  the  way  of  it?"  I  said. 
£>  no  <j 


vv 


CAPRICE 

"Well !  well !  such  an  appeal  shall  not 
go  unanswered,  at  least.  Wait  there, 
my  trusty  Benjamin,  and  I'll  be  with 
you  anon."  Pausing  only  to  refill  my 
tobacco-pouch  and  get  my  cap,  I  sal- 
lied out  into  the  fragrant  night,  and 
set  off  along  the  river,  the  faithful 
Benjamin  trotting  at  my  heels. 

Very  soon  we  were  skirting  bloom- 
ing flower-beds,  and  crossing  trim 
lawns,  until  at  length  we  reached  a 
certain  wing  of  the  house  from  a  win- 
dow of  which  a  pillow-case  was  dang- 
ling by  means  of  a  string. 

"That's  for  provisions!"  volunteered 
Ben;  "we  pertended  he  was  starving, 
so  he  lets  it  down  an'  I  fill  it  with 
onions  out  of  the  vegetable  garden." 
At  this  moment  the  curly  head  of  the 
Imp  appeared  at  the  window,  fol- 
lowed by  the  major  portion  of  his 
person. 

"Oh,  Uncle  Dick!"  he  cried  in  a 
loud  stage-whisper,  "I  think  you  had 

£>    I  I  I    <3 


V  4 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

better  be  the  Black  Knight,  'cause 
you're  so  big,  you  know." 

"Imp,"  I  said,  "get  in  at  once,  do 
you  want  to  break  your  neck?" 
The  Imp  obediently  wriggled  into 
safety. 

"The  ladder's  in  the  tool-house, 
Uncle  Dick — Ben'll  show  you.  Will 
you  get  it,  please?"  he  pleaded  in  a 
wheedling  tone. 

"First  of  all,  my  Imp,  why  did  your 
Auntie  Lisbeth  send  you  to  bed — had 
you  been  a  very  naughty  boy?" 

"No-o!"  he  answered,  after  a  mo- 
ment's pause,  "I  don't  think  I  was  so 
very  naughty — I  only  painted  Dor- 
othy like  an  Indian  chief — green,  with 
red  spots,  an'  she  looked  fine,  you 
know." 

"Green,  with  red  spots!"  I  repeated. 

"Yes;  only  auntie  didn't  seem  to  like 
it." 

"I  fear  your  Auntie  Lisbeth  lacks  an 
eye  for  colour." 


£>    112   <3 


K 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Yes,  'fraid  so;  she  sent  me  to  bed 
for  it,  you  know." 

"Still,  Imp,  under  the  circumstances 
I  think  it  would  be  best  if  you  got  un- 
dressed and  went  to  sleep." 

"Oh,  but  I  can't,  Uncle  Dickl" 

"Why  not,  my  Imp?" 

1  'Cause  the  moon's  so  very  bright, 
an'  everything  looks  so  fine  down 
there,  an'  I'm  sure  there's  fairies 
about — Moon-fairies,  you  know,  and 
I'm  miserable." 

"Miserable,  Imp?" 

"Yes,  Auntie  Lisbeth  never  came  to 
kiss  me  good-night,  an'  so  I  can't  go 
to  sleep,  Uncle  Dick!" 

"Why  that  alters  the  case,  cer- 
tainly." 

"Yes,  an'  the  ladder's  in  the  tool- 
house." 

"Imp,"  I  said,  as  I  turned  to  follow 
Benjamin,  "oh,  you  Imp!"  There  are 
few  things  in  this  world  more  difficult 
to  manage  than  a  common  or  garden 

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MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

ladder;  among  other  peculiarities  it 
has  a  most  unpleasant  knack  of  kick- 
ing out  suddenly  just  as  everything  ap- 
pears to  be  going  smoothly,  which  is 
apt  to  prove  disconcerting  to  the  nov- 
ice. However,  after  sundry  mishaps 
of  the  kind,  I  eventually  got  it  reared 
up  to  the  window,  and  a  moment  af- 
terwards the  Imp  had  climbed  down 
and  stood  beside  me,  drawing  the 
breath  of  freedom. 

As  a  precautionary  measure  we  pro- 
ceeded to  hide  the  ladder  in  a  clump 
of  rhododendrons  hard  by,  and  had 
but  just  done  so  when  Benjamin  ut- 
tered a  cry  of  warning  and  took  to  his 
heels,  while  the  Imp  and  I  sought 
shelter  behind  a  friendly  tree.  And 
not  a  whit  too  soon,  for,  scarcely  had 
we  done  so,  when  two  figures  came 
round  a  corner  of  the  house — two  fig- 
ures who  walked  very  slowly  and  very 
close  together. 

"Why  it's  Betty — the  cook,  you 
s>  114  <3 


3    •/! 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

know — an'    Peter!"    whispered     the 
Imp. 

Almost  opposite  our  hiding-place 
Betty  paused  to  sigh  heavily  and  stare 
up  at  the  moon. 

"Oh,  Peter!"  she  murmured,  "look 
at  that  there  orb  !" 

"Ar!"  said  Peter,  gazing  obediently 
upward. 

"Peter,  ain't  it  'eavenly;  don't  it  stir 
your  very  soul?" 

"Ar!"  said  Peter. 

"Peter,  are  you  sure  you  loves  me 
more  than  that  Susan  thing  at  the 
doctor's?"  A  corduroy  coat-sleeve 
crept  slowly  about  Betty's  plump 
waist,  and  there  came  the  unmistak- 
able sound  of  a  kiss. 

"Really  and  truly,  Peter?" 

"Ar!"  said  Peter,  "so  'elp  me  Sam!" 
The  kissing  sound  was  repeated,  and 
they  walked  on  once  more,  only  closer 
than  ever  now  on  account  of  the  cor- 
duroy coat-sleeve. 

£>  115  o 


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"*>         **^&A^-~-    •'   Ji'S  £  ^— ^:''"-^<J  V^'         CX^V' 

MK  L^DK  CAPRICE 

"Those  two  are  in  love,  you  know," 
nodded  the  Imp.  "Peter  says  the 
cheese-cakes  she  makes  are  enough  to 
drive  any  man  into  marrying  her, 
whether  he  wants  to  or  not,  an'  I 
heard  Betty  telling  Jane  that  she 
adored  Peter,  'cause  he  had  so  much 
soul!  Why  is  it,"  he  inquired,  thought- 
fully, as  he  watched  the  two  out  of 
sight,  "why  is  it,  Uncle  Dick,  that 
people  in  love  always  look  so  silly?" 

"Do  you  think  so?"  I  asked,  as  I 
paused  to  light  my  pipe. 

"  'Course  I  do!"  returned  the  Imp; 
"what's  any  one  got  to  put  their  arm 
round  girls  for,  just  as  if  they  wanted 
holding  up — I  think  it's  awfull' 
silly!" 

"Of  course  it  is,  Imp — your  wisdom 
is  unassailable — still,  do  you  know,  I 
can  understand  a  man  being  foolish 
enough  to  do  it — occasionally." 

"But  you  never  would,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Alas,  Imp!"  I  said,  shaking  my 
E>  116  o 


HI 

H   I'tff    I 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

head,  "Fortune  seems  to  preclude  all 
chances  of  it." 

"  'Course  you  wouldn't,"  he  ex- 
claimed; "an'  Ivanhoe  wouldn't " 

"Ah,  but  he  did!"  I  put  in;  "have 
you  forgotten  Rowena?" 

"Oh!"  cried  the  Imp  dolefully,  "do 
you  really  think  he  ever  put  his  arm 
round  her?" 

"Sure  of  it,"  I  nodded.  The  Imp 
seemed  much  cast  down,  and  even 
shocked. 

"But  there  was  the  Black  Knight," 
he  said,  brightening  suddenly — "Rich- 
ard of  the  Lion  Heart,  you  know — 
he  never  did!" 

"Not  while  he  was  fighting,  of 
course,  but  afterwards,  if  history  is 
to  be  believed,  he  very  frequently  did; 
and  we  are  all  alike,  Imp — everybody 
does  sooner  or  later." 

"But  why?  Why  should  any  one 
want  to  put  their  arm  round  a  girl, 
Uncle  Dick?" 

£>    117    <3 


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LADY  CAPRICE 


"For  the  simple  reason  that  the  girl 
is  there  to  put  it  round,  I  suppose. 
And  now,  Imp,  let  us  talk  of 
fish." 

Instinctively  we  had  wandered  to- 
wards the  river,  and  now  we  stood  to 
watch  the  broad,  silver  path  made  by 
the  moon  across  the  mystery  of  its 
waters. 

"I  love  to  see  the  shine  upon  the 
river  like  that,"  said  the  Imp,  dream- 
ily;" Auntie  Lisbeth  says  it's  the  path 
that  the  Moon-fairies  come  down  by 
to  bring  you  nice  dreams  when  you've 
been  good.  I've  got  out  of  bed  lots 
of  times  an'  watched  an'  watched, 
but  I've  never  seen  them  come.  Do 
you  think  there  are  fairies  in  the 
moon,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Undoubtedly,"  I  answered;  "how 
else  does  it  keep  so  bright?  I  used  to 
wonder  once  how  they  managed  to 
make  it  shine  so." 

"It  must  need  lots  of  rubbing!"  said 


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t 


CAPRICE 

the  Imp;  "I  wonder  if  they  ever  get 
tired?" 

"Of  course  they  do,  Imp,  and  dis- 
heartened, too,  sometimes,  like  the 
rest  of  us,  and  then  everything  is 
black,  and  people  wonder  where  the 
moon  is.  But  they  are  very  brave, 
these  Moon-fairies,  and  they  never 
quite  lose  hope,  you  know;  so  they 
presently  go  back  to  their  rubbing  and 
polishing,  always  starting  at  one  edge. 
And  in  a  little  while  we  see  it  begin  to 
shine  again,  very  small  and  thin  at 
first,  like  a " 

"Thumb-nail!" 

"Yes,  just  like  a  thumb-nail;  and 
go  they  go  on  working  and  work- 
ing at  it  until  it  gets  as  big  and 
round  and  bright  as  it  is  to- 
night." 

Thus  we  walked  together  through  a 

fairy   world,   the   Imp   and   I,   while 

above    the    murmur    of    the    waters, 

above  the  sighing  of  the  trees,  came 

£>  1 19  <s 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

the  soft,  tremulous  melody  of  the  vio- 
lins. 

"I  do  wish  I  had  lived  when  there 
were  knights  like  Ivanhoe,"  burst  out 
-the  Imp  suddenly;  "it  must  have  been 
fine  to  knock  a  man  off  his  horse  with 
your  lance." 

"Always  supposing  he  didn't  knock 
you  off  first,  Imp." 

"Oh!  I  should  have  been  the  sort  of 
knight  that  nobody  could  knock  off, 
you  know.  An'  I'd  have  wandered 
about  on  my  faithful  charger,  fighting 
all  sorts  of  caddish  barons,  and  cai- 
tiffs, an'  slaying  giants;  an'  I'd  have 
rescued  lovely  ladies  from  castles  grim 
— though  I  wouldn't  have  put  my  arm 
round  them,  of  course !" 

"Perish  the  thought,  my  Imp!" 

"Uncle  Dick!"  he  said,  insinuatingly, 
"I  do  wish  you'd  be  the  Black  Knight, 
an'  let  me  be  Ivanhoe." 

"But  there  are  no  caitiffs  and  things 
left  for  us  to  fight,  Imp,  and  no  lovely 

£>    I2O  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

ladies  to  rescue  from  castles  grim, 
alas!" 

Now  we  had  been  walking  on, 
drawn  almost  imperceptibly  by  the 
magic  thread  of  the  melody,  which 
had  led  us,  by  devious  paths,  to  a  low 
stone  wall,  beyond  which  we  could 
see  the  gleam  of  lighted  windows  and 
the  twinkle  of  fairy-lamps  among  the 
trees.  And  over  there,  amid  the 
music  and  laughter,  was  Lisbeth  in 
all  the  glory  of  her  beauty,  happy,  of 
course,  and  light-hearted;  and  here, 
beneath  the  moon,  was  I. 

"We  could  pretend  this  was  a  castle 
grim,  you  know,  Uncle  Dick,  full  of 
dungeons  an'  turrets,  an'  that  we  were 
going  to  rescue  Auntie  Lisbeth." 

"Imp,"  I  said,  "that's  really  a  great 
idea." 

"I  wish  I'd  brought  my  trusty 
sword,"  he  sighed,  searching  about 
for  something  to  supply  its  place;  "I 
left  it  under  my  pillow,  you  know." 

£>    121    <3 


1\N 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Very  soon,  however,  he  had  procured 
two  sticks,  somewhat  thin  and  wobbly, 
yet  which,  by  the  magic  of  imagina- 
tion, became  transformed  into  formid- 
able, two-edged  swords,  with  one  of 
which  he  armed  me,  the  other  he  flour- 
ished above  his  head. 

"Forward,  gallant  knights!"  he 
cried;  "the  breach!  the  breach!  On! 
on!  St.  George,  for  Merrie  Eng- 
land!" With  the  words  he  clambered 
upon  the  wall  and  disappeared  upon 
the  other  side.  , 

For  a  moment  I  hesitated,  and 
then,  inspired  by  the  music  and  the 
thought  of  Lisbeth,  I  followed  suit. 
It  was  all  very  mad,  of  course,  but 
who  cared  for  sanity  on  such  a  night 
— certainly  not  I. 

"Careful  now,  Imp!"  I  cautioned; 
"if  any  one  should  see  us  they'll  take 
us  for  thieves,  or  lunatics,  beyond  a 
doubt." 

We  found  ourselves  in  an  enclosed 
s>  122  <3 


VH, 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


garden  with  a  walk  which  led  between 
rows  of  fruit  trees.  Following  this, 
it  brought  us  out  upon  a  broad  stretch 
of  lawn,  with  here  and  there  a  great 
tree,  and  beyond,  the  gleaming  win- 
dows of  the  house.  Filled  with  the 
spirit  of  adventure,  we  approached, 
keeping  in  the  shadow  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, until  we  could  see  figures  that 
strolled  to  and  fro  upon  the  terrace  or 
promenaded  the  walks  below. 

The  excitement  of  dodging  our  way 
among  so  many  people  was  intense; 
time  and  again  we  were  only  saved 
from  detection  by  more  than  one 
wandering  couple,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  all  their  attention  was  centred  in 
themselves.  For  instance,  we  were 
skirmishing  round  a  clump  of  laurels, 
to  gain  the  shadow  of  the  terrace, 
when  we  almost  ran  into  the  arms 
of  a  pair;  but  they  didn't  see  us  for 
the  very  good  reason  that  she  was 
staring  at  the  moon,  and  he  at  her. 
£>  123  <3 


h\ 


tv 


ff 

V. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"So  sweet  of  you,  Archibald!"  she 
was  saying. 

"What  did  she  call  him  'bald  for, 
Uncle  Dick?"  inquired  the  Imp  in  a 
loud  stage-whisper,  as  I  dragged  him 
down  behind  the  laurels.  'He's  not 
a  bit  bald,  you  know !  An'  I  say,  Uncle 
Dick,  did  you  see  his  arm,  it  was 
round " 

"Yes— yes!"  I  nodded. 

"Just  like  Peter's,  you  know." 

"Yes— yes,  I  saw." 

"I  wonder  why  she  called  him- 


\U    ^J     I 


"Hush!"  I  broke  in,  "his  name  is 
Archibald,  I  suppose." 

"Well,  I  hope  when  I  grow  up  no- 
body will  ever  call  me " 

"Hush!"  I  said  again,  "not  a  word 
— there's  your  Auntie  Lisbeth!  She 
was,  indeed,  standing  upon  the  ter- 
race, within  a  yard  of  our  hiding- 
place,  and  beside  her  was  Mr.  Selwyn. 

"Uncle  Dick,"  whispered  the  irre- 
pressible Imp,  "do  you  think  if  we 
D  124  <3 


Kf  m 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

watch  long  enough  that  Mr.  Selwyn 
will  put  his  arm  round " 

"Shut  up !"  I  whispered  savagely. 

Lisbeth  was  clad  in  a  long,  trailing 
gown  of  dove-coloured  silk — one  of 
those  close-fitting  garments  that  make 
the  uninitiated,  such  as  myself,  won- 
der how  they  are  ever  got  on.  Also, 
she  wore  a  shawl,  which  I  was  sorry 
for,  because  I  have  always  been  an  ad- 
mirer of  beautiful  things,  and  Lis- 
beth's  neck  and  shoulders  are  glorious. 

Mr.  Selwyn  stood  beside  her  with  a 
plate  of  ice  cream  in  his  hand,  which 
he  handed  to  her,  and  they  sat  down. 
As  I  watched  her  and  noticed  her 
weary,  bored  air,  and  how  wistfully 
she  gazed  up  at  the  silver  disc  of  the 
moon,  I  experienced  a  feeling  of  de- 
cided satisfaction. 

"Yes,"  said  Lisbeth,  toying  absently 
with  the  ice  cream,  "he  painted  Dor- 
othy's face  with  stripes  of  red  and 
green  enamel,  and  goodness  only 
e>  125  <3 


knows  how  we  can  ever  get  it  all 
off!" 

Mr.  Selwyn  was  duly  shocked  and 
murmured  something  about  'the  ef- 
ficacy of  turpentine'  in  such  an  emer- 
gency. 

"Of  course,  I  had  to  punish  him," 
continued  Lisbeth,  "so  I  sent  him  to 
bed  immediately  after  tea,  and  never 
went  to  say  good-night,  or  tuck  him 
up  as  I  usually  do,  and  it  has  been 
worrying  me  all  the  evening." 

Mr.  Selwyn  was  sure  that  he  was  all 
right,  and  positively  certain  that  at 
this  moment  he  was  wrapped  in  balmy 
slumber.  Despite  my  warning  grasp, 
the  Imp  chuckled,  but  we  were  saved 
by  the  band  striking  up.  Mr.  Selwyn 
rose,  giving  his  arm  to  Lisbeth,  and 
they  re-entered  the  ball-room.  One 
by  one  the  other  couples  followed  suit 
until  the  long  terrace  was  deserted. 

Now,  upon  Lisbeth's  deserted  chair, 

showing  wonderfully  pink  in  the  soft 

E>  126  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

glow  of  the  Chinese  lanterns,  was  the 
ice  cream. 

"Uncle  Dick,"  said  the  Imp  in  his 
thoughtful  way,  "I  think  I'll  be  a  ban- 
dit for  a  bit." 

"Anything  you  like,"  I  answered 
rashly,  "so  long  as  we  get  away  while 
we  can." 

"All  right,"  he  whispered,  "I  won't 
be  a  minute,"  and  before  I  could  stop 
him  he  had  scrambled  down  the 
steps  and  fallen  to  upon  the  ice 
cream. 

The  wonderful  celerity  with  which 
the  Imp  wolfed  down  that  ice  cream 
was  positively  awe-inspiring.  In  less 
time  almost  than  it  takes  to  tell  the 
plate  was  empty.  Yet  scarcely  had 
he  swallowed  the  last  mouthful  when 
he  heard  Mr.  Selwyn's  voice  close  by. 
In  his  haste  the  Imp  dropped  his  cap, 
a  glaring  affair  of  red  and  white,  and 
before  he  could  recover  it  Lisbeth  re- 
appeared, followed  by  Mr.  Selwyn. 
£>  127  o 


t.fca 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
—  "It  certainly  is  more  pleasant  out 
here!"  he  was  saying. 


Lisbeth  came  straight  towards  the 
cap  —  it  was  a  moral  impossibility  that 
she  could  fail  to  see  it  —  yet  she  sank 
into  her  chair  without  word  or  sign. 
Mr.  Selwyn,  on  the  contrary,  stood 
with  the  empty  ice  plate  in  his  hand, 
staring  at  it  in  wide-eyed  astonish- 
ment. 

"It's  gone!"  he  exclaimed. 

"Oh!"  said  Lisbeth. 

"Most  extraordinary!"  said  Mr. 
Selwyn,  fixing  his  monocle  and  star- 
ing harder  than  ever;  "I  wonder 
where  it  can  have  got  to?" 

"Perhaps  it  melted!"  Lisbeth  sug- 
gested, "and  I  should  so  have  loved 
an  ice!"  she  sighed. 

"Then,  of  course,  I'll  get  you  an- 
other, with  pleasure,"  he  said  and  hur- 
ried off,  eyeing  the  plate  dubiously  as 
he  went. 

No  sooner  was  Lisbeth  alone  than 
E>  128  <3 


.7     Zj 


MK  I^DK  C4 PRICE 

she  kicked  aside  the  train  of  her  dress 
and  picked  up  the  tell-tale  cap. 

"Imp!"  she  whispered,  rising  to  her 
feet,  "Imp,  come  here  at  once,  sir!" 
There  was  a  moment's  breathless 
pause,  and  then  the  Imp  squirmed 
himself  into  view. 

"Hallo,  Auntie  Lisbeth!"  he  said, 
with  a  cheerfulness  wholly  as- 
sumed. 

"Oh  1"  she  cried,  distressfully, 
"whatever  does  this  mean;  what  are 
you  doing  here?  Oh,  you  naughty 
boy!" 

"Lisbeth,"  I  said,  as  I  rose  in  my 
turn  and  confronted  her,  "do  not 
blame  the  child — the  fault  is  mine — • 
let  me  explain;  by  means  of  a  lad- 
der- 

"Not  here,"  she  whispered,  glancing 
nervously  towards  the  ball-room. 

"Then  come  where  I  can." 

"Impossible!" 

"Not  at  all;  you  have  only  to  de- 
s>  129  <3 


^ 


Ht}v-v 


O'ft 
XO 


C4 PRICE 

scend  these  steps  and  we  can  talk  un- 
disturbed." 

"Ridiculous!"  she  said,  stooping  to 
replace  the  Imp's  cap;  but  being 
thus  temptingly  within  reach,  she 
was  next  moment  beside  us  in  the 
shadows. 

"Dick,  how  could  you,  how  dared 
you?" 

"You  see,  I  had  to  explain,"  I  an- 
swered very  humbly;  "I  really 
couldn't  allow  this  poor  child  to  bear 
the  blame  of  my  fault " 

"I'm  not  a  'poor  child,'  Uncle  Dick," 
expostulated  the  Imp;  "I'm  a  gallant 
knight  and " 

" — The  blame  of  my  fault,  Lis- 
beth,"  I  continued,  "I  alone  must  face 
your  just  resentment,  for " 

"Hush!"  she  whispered,  glancing 
hastily  about. 

" — For,  by  means  of  a  ladder,  Lis- 
beth,  a  common  or  garden  lad- 
der  " 


°.o? 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Oh,  do  be  quiet!"  she  said,  and  laid 
her  hand  upon  my  lips,  which  I  im- 
mediately imprisoned  there,  but  for  a 
moment  only ;  the  next  it  was  snatched 
away  as  there  came  the  unmistakable 
sound  of  some  one  approaching. 

"Come  along,  Auntie  Lisbeth,"  whis- 
pered the  Imp;  "fear  not,  we'll  rescue 
you." 

Oh!  surely  there  was  magic  in  the 
air  to-night;  for,  with  a  swift,  dex- 
terous movement,  Lisbeth  had  swept 
her  long  train  across  her  arm,  and  we 
were  running  hand  in  hand,  all  three 
of  us,  running  across  lawns  and  down 
winding  paths  between  yew  hedges, 
sometimes  so  close  together  that  I 
could  feel  a  tress  of  her  fragrant  hair 
brushing  my  face  with  a  touch  almost 
like  a  caress.  Surely,  surely,  there 
was  magic  in  the  air  to-night ! 

Suddenly  Lisbeth  stopped,  flushed 
and  panting. 

"Well!"  she  exclaimed,  staring  from 
£>  131  <3 


!*3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

me  to  the  Imp,  and  back  again,  "was 
ever  anything  so  mad!" 

"Everything  is  mad  to-night,"  I 
said;  "it's  the  moon!" 

"To  think  of  my  running  away  like 
this  with  two — two " 

"Interlopers,"  I  suggested. 

"I  really  ought  to  be  very,  very  angry 
with  you — both  of  you,  she  said,  try- 
ing to  frown. 

"No,  don't  be  angry  with  us,  Auntie 
Lisbeth,"  pleaded  the  Imp,  "  'cause 
you  are  a  lovely  lady  in  a  castle  grim, 
an'  we  are  two  gallant  knights,  so  we 
had  to  come  an'  rescue  you;  an'  you 
never  came  to  kiss  me  good-night,  an' 
I'm  awfull'  sorry  'bout  painting  Dor- 
othy's face — really!" 

"Imp,"  cried  Lisbeth,  falling  on  her 
knees  regardless  of  her  silks  and  laces, 
"Imp,  come  and  kiss  me."  The  Imp 
drew  out  a  decidedly  grubby  handker- 
chief, and,  having  rubbed  his  lips  with 
it,  obeyed. 

£>  132  <j 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Now,  Uncle  Dick!"  he  said,  and 
offered  me  the  grubby  handkerchief. 
Lisbeth  actually  blushed. 

"Reginald!"  she  exclaimed,  "what- 
ever put  such  an  idea  into  your 
head?" 

"Oh!  everybody's  always  kissing 
somebody  you  know,"  he  nodded;  "an' 
it's  Uncle  Dick's  turn  now." 

Lisbeth  rose  from  her  knees  and  be- 
gan to  pat  her  rebellious  hair  into 
order.  Now,  as  she  raised  her  arms, 
her  shawl  very  naturally  slipped  to  the 
ground;  and  standing  there,  with  her 
eyes  laughing  up  at  me  beneath  their 
dark  lashes,  with  the  moonlight  in  her 
hair,  and  gleaming  upon  the  snow  of 
her  neck  and  shoulders,  she  had  never 
seemed  quite  so  bewilderingly,  tempt- 
ingly beautiful  before. 

"Dick,"  she  said,  "I  must  go  back 
at  once — before  they  miss  me." 

"Go  back!"  I  repeated,  "never — 
that  is,  not  yet." 

s>  133  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"But  suppose  any  one  saw  us!"  she 

said,  with  a  hairpin  in  her  mouth. 

j  *• 

"They  shan't,"  I  answered;  "you 
will  see  to  that,  won't  you,  Imp?" 

"'Course  I  will,  Uncle  Dick!" 

"Then  go  you,  Sir  Knight,  and  keep 
faithful  ward  behind  yon  apple  tree, 
and  let  no  base  varlet  hither  come; 
that  is,  if  you  see  any  one,  be  sure  to 
tell  me."  The  Imp  saluted  and 
promptly  disappeared  behind  the  ap- 
ple tree  in  question,  while  I  stood 
watching  Lisbeth's  dexterous  fingers 
and  striving  to  remember  a  line  from 
Keats  descriptive  of  a  beautiful 
woman  in  the  moonlight.  Before  I 
could  call  it  to  mind,  however,  Lis- 
beth  interrupted  me. 

"Don't  you  think  you  might  pick  up 
my  shawl  instead  of  staring  at  me  as 
if  I  was- 

"The  most  beautiful  woman  in  the 
world!"  I  put  in. 

— "Who  is  catching  her  death  of 

8»:.. 

E>    134   <3 

'  c&y4t^=^ofl&     jt~.        ^V  n      ^o&il^y^eSS 

~^y  pv    ^-"  V.crv 

'Ss      '•  •      -i        '•'      -'       •  if      J  I  K-^   (      i      *C  P 


«r\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

cold,"  she  laughed,  yet  for  all  her 
light  tone  her  eyes  drooped  before 
mine  as  I  obediently  wrapped  the 
shawl  about  her,  in  the  doing  of 
which,  my  arm  being  round  her, 
very  naturally  stayed  there,  and — 
wonder  of  wonders,  was  not  repulsed. 
And  at  this  very  moment,  from  the 
shadowy  trees  behind  us,  came  the 
rich,  clear  song  of  a  nightin- 
gale. 

Oh!  most  certainly  the  air  was  full 
of  magic  to-night! 

"Dick,"  said  Lisbeth  very  softly  as 
the  trilling  notes  died  away,  "I 
thought  one  could  only  dream  such 
a  night  as  this  is." 

"And  yet  life  might  hold  many  such 
for  you  and  me,  if  you  would  only  let 
it,  Lisbeth,"  I  reminded  her.  She 
did  not  answer. 

"Not  far  from  the  village  of  Down, 
in  Kent,"  I  began. 

"There  stands  a  house,"  she  put  in, 


A 

eyes. 

"Yes. 


MX  L/^Dr  CAPRICE 
staring  up  at  the  moon  with  dreamy; 


"A  very  old  house,  with  twisted 
Tudor  chimneys  and  pointed  gables — 
you  see  I  have  it  all  by  heart,  Dick — 
a  house  with  wide  stairways  and  long 
pannelled  chambers " 

"Very  empty  and  desolate  at  pres- 
ent," I  added.  "And  amongst  other 
things,  there  is  a  rose-garden — they 
call  it  My  Lady's  Garden,  Lisbeth, 
though  no  lady  has  trod  its  winding 
paths  for  years  and  years.  But  I  have 
dreamed,  many  and  many  a  time,  that 
we  stood  among  the  roses,  she  and  I, 
upon  just  such  another  night  as  this 
is.  So  I  keep  the  old  house  ready  and 
the  gardens  freshly  trimmed,  ready 
for  my  lady's  coming;  must  I  wait 
much  longer,  Lisbeth?"  As  I  ended 
the  nightingale  took  up  the  story, 
pleading  my  cause  for  me,  filling  the 
air  with  a  melody  now  appealing, 
s>  136  o 


*5S\1sKS[ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

now  commanding,  until  it  gradually 
died  away  in  one  long  note  of  passion- 
ate entreaty. 

Lisbeth  sighed  and  turned  towards 
me,  but  as  she  did  so  I  felt  a  tug  at 
my  coat,  and,  looking  round,  beheld 
the  Imp. 

"Uncle    Dick,"    he    said,    his    eyes 
studiously   averted,    doubtless  on  ac- 
count  of   the   position    of   my    arm, 
"here's  Mr.  Sclwynl" 
With  a  sudden  exclamation  Lisbeth 
started  from  me  and  gathered  up  her 
skirts  to  run. 
"Whereaway,  my  Imp?" 
"Coming  across  the  lawn." 
"Reginald,"  I  said,  solemnly,  listen 
to  me;  you  must  sally  out  upon  him 
with  lance  in  rest,  tell  him  you  are  a 
Knight-errant,  wishful  to  uphold  the 
glory  of  that  faire  ladye,  your  Auntie 
Lisbeth,   and  whatever  happens  you 
must  manage  to  keep  him  away  from 
here,  do  you  understand?" 
f>  137  <* 


<UW 
MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Yes,  only  I  do  wish  I'd  brought 
my  trusty  sword,  you  know,"  he 
sighed. 

"Never  mind  that  now,  Imp." 

"Will  Auntie  Lisbeth  be  quite " 

"She  will  be  all  right." 

"I    suppose   if   you   put   your    arm 


"Never  mind  my  arm,  Imp,  go  1" 

"Then  fare  thee  well !"  said  he,  and 
with  a  melodramatic  flourish  of  his 
lance,  trotted  off. 

"What  did  he  mean  about  your  arm, 
Dick?" 

"Probably  this!"  I  answered,  slip- 
ping it  around  her  again. 

"But  you  must  get  away  at  once," 
whispered  Lisbeth;  "if  Mr.  Selwyn 
should  see  you " 

"I  intend  that  he  shall.  Oh,  it  will 
be  quite  simple;  while  he  is  talking  to 
me  you  can  get  back  to  the " 

"Hush!"  she  whispered,  laying  her 
fingers  on  my  lips;  "listen !" 
£>  138  <3 


"••..oo 

v!//      °6°  *'.         ••*  °r£- 

"  (   ••  '•••  '*••  •••'  Irf 

i  -".V  •  .•  •        f\          I A  vi 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Hallo,  Mr.  Selwyn!"  came  in  the 
Imp's  familiar  tones. 

"Why,  good  Heavens!"  exclaimed 
another  voice,  much  too  near  to  be 
pleasant,  "what  on  earth  are  you  do- 
ing here — and  at  this  time  of  night?" 

"Looking  for  base  varlets!" 

"Don't  you  know  that  all  little  boys 
— all  nice  little  boys — should  have 
been  in  bed  hours  ago?" 

"But  I'm  not  a  nice  little  boy;  I'm 
a  Knight-errant;  would  you  like  to 
get  a  lance,  Mr.  Selwyn,  an'  break  it 
with  me  to  the  glory  of  my  Auntie 
Lisbeth?" 

"The  question  is,  what  has  be- 
come of  her?"  said  Mr.  Selwyn.  We 
waited  almost  breathlessly  for  the 
answer. 

"Oh!  I  'specks  she's  somewhere  look- 
ing at  the  moon;  everybody  looks  at 
the  moon,  you  know;  Betty  does,  an' 
the  lady  with  the  man  with  a  funny 

name  'bout  being  bald,  an? " 

D  139  <2 


71  ( 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"I  think  you  had  better  come 
up  to  the  house,"  said  Mr.  Sel- 
wyn. 

"Do  you  think  you  could  get  me  an 
ice  cream  if  I  did?"  asked  the  Imp, 
persuasively;  "nice  an'  pink,  you 
know,  with " 

"An  ice!"  repeated  Mr.  Selwyn;  "I 

wonder  how  many  you  have  had  al- 
ready to-night?" 

The  time  for  action  was  come. 

"Lisbeth,"  I  said,  "we  must  go;  such 
happiness  as  this  could  not  last;  how 
should  it?  I  think  it  is  given  us  to 
dream  over  in  less  happy  days.  For 
me  it  will  be  a  memory  to  treasure  al- 
ways, and  yet  there  might  be  one 
thing  more — a  little  thing,  Lisbeth — 
can  you  guess?"  She  did  not  speak, 
but  I  saw  the  dimple  come  and  go  at 
the  corner  of  her  mouth,  so  I  stooped 
and  kissed  her.  For  a  moment,  all 
too  brief,  we  stood  thus,  with  the 
glory  of  the  moonlight  about  us ;  then 
£>  140  o 


•  v 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

I  was  hurrying  across  the  lawn  after 
Selwyn  and  the  Imp. 

"Ah,  Mr.  Selwyn!"  I  said  as  I  over- 
took them,  "so  you  have  found  him, 
have  you?"  Mr.  Selwyn  turned  to  re- 
gard me,  surprise  writ  large  upon  him, 
from  the  points  of  his  immaculate, 
patent-leather  shoes,  to  the  parting  of 
his  no  less  immaculate  hair. 

"So  very  good  of  you,"  I  continued; 
"you  see  he  is  such  a  difficult  object  to 
recover  when  once  he  gets  mislaid; 
really,  I'm  awfully  obliged."  Mr. 
Selwyn's  attitude  was  politely  formal. 
He  bowed. 

"What  is  it  to-night,"  he  inquired, 
"pirates"? 

"Hardly  so  bad  as  that,"  I  returned; 
"to-night  the  air  is  full  of  the  clash 
of  armour  and  the  ring  of  steel;  if  you 
do  not  hear  it  that  is  not  our  fault." 

"An'  the  woods  are  full  of  caddish 
barons  and  caitiff  knaves,  you  know, 
aren't  they,  Uncle  Dick?" 
D  141  <J 


=*/,! 


* 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Certainly,"  I  nodded,  with  lance 
and  spear-point  twinkling  through  the 
gloom;  but  in  the  silver  glory  of  the 
moon,  Mr.  Selwyn,  walk  errant  damo- 
zels  and  ladyes  faire,  and  again,  if 
you  don't  see  them,  the  loss  is  yours." 
As  I  spoke,  away  upon  the  terrace  a 
grey  shadow  paused  a  moment  ere  it 
was  swallowed  in  the  brilliance  of  the 
ball-room;  seeing  which  I  did  not 
mind  the  slightly  superior  smile  that 
curved  Mr.  Selwyn's  very  precise 
moustache;  after  all,  my  rhapsody 
had  not  been  altogether  thrown  away. 

As  I  ended,  the  opening  bars  of  a 
waltz  floated  out  to  us.  Mr.  Selwyn 
glanced  back  over  his  shoulder. 

"Ah!  I  suppose  you  can  find  your 
way  out?"  he  inquired. 

"Oh,  yes,  thanks." 

"Then  if  you  will  excuse  me,  I  think 
I'll  leave  you  to — ah — to  do  it;  the 

next   dance    is    beginning,   and — ah 
» 

£>    142   <3 


I 


(US 


A/K  L^Dr  CAPRICE 

"Certainly,"  I  said,  "of  course— 
good-night,  and  much  obliged — 
really!"  Mr.  Selwyn  bowed,  and, 
turning  away,  left  us  to  our  own  re- 
sources. 

"I  should  have  liked  another  ice, 
Uncle  Dick,"  sighed  the  Imp,  regret- 
fully. 

"Knights  never  ate  ice  cream!"  I 
said,  as  we  set  off  along  the  nearest 
path. 

"Uncle  Dick,"  said  the  Imp  sud- 
denly, "do  you  'spose  Mr.  Selwyn 
wants  to  put  his  arm  round  Auntie 
Lis " 

"Possibly!" 

"An'  do  you  'spose  that  Auntie  Lis- 
beth  wants  Mr.  Selwyn  to " 

"I  don't  know — of  course  not — er 
— kindly  shut  up,  will  you,  Imp?" 

"I  only  wanted  to  know,  you  know," 
he  murmured. 

Therewith  we  walked  on  in  silence 
and  I  fell  to  dreaming  of  Lisbeth 

E>  143  <3 


^i^^^nfK 

L  4'/  »v  .;3  ^^ 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
again,  of  how  she  had  sighed,  of  the 
look  in  her  eyes  as  she  turned  to  me 
with  her  answer  trembling  on  her  lips 
— the  answer  which  the  Imp  had  inad- 
vertently cut  short. 

• 

In  this  frame  of  mind  I  drew  near 
to  that  corner  of  the  garden  where 
she  had  stood  with  me,  that  quiet, 
shady  corner,  which  henceforth  would 
remain  enshrined  within  my  memory 
for  her  sake,  which 

I  stopped  suddenly  short  at  the  sight 
of  two  figures — one  in  the  cap  and 
apron  of  a  waiting  maid  and  the  other 
in  the  gorgeous  plush  and  gold  braid 
of  a  footman ;  and  they  were  standing 
upon  the  very  spot  where  Lisbeth  and 
I  had  stood,  and  in  almost  the  exact 
attitude — it  was  desecration. 

I  stood  stock  still  despite  the  Imp's 
frantic  tugs  at  my  coat,  all  other  feel- 
ings swallowed  up  in  one  of  half- 
amused  resentment.  Thus  the  re- 
splendent footman  happened  to  turn 
D  144  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

his  head,  presently  espied  me,  and  re- 
moving his  plush-clad  arm  from  the 
waist  of  the  trim  maid-servant,  and 
doubling  his  fists,  strode  towards  us 
with  a  truly  terrible  mien. 

"And  w'ot  might  your  game  be?" 
he  inquired,  with  that  supercilious  air 
inseparable  to  plush  and  gold  braid; 
"oh,  I  know  your  kind,  I  do — I  know 
yer!" 

"Then,  fellow,"  quoth  I,  "I  know 
not  thee,  by  Thor,  I  swear  it 
and  Og  the  Terrible,  King  of 
Bashan!" 

"  'Ogs  is  it?"  said  he  indignantly, 
"don't  get  trying  to  come  over  me 
with  yer  'ogs;  no  nor  yet  yer  fellers! 
The  question  is,  wo't  are  you  'anging 
round  'ere  for?"  Now,  possibly  de- 
ceived by  my  pacific  attitude,  or  in- 
spired by  the  bright  eyes  of  the  trim 
maid-servant,  he  seized  me,  none  too 
gently,  by  the  collar,  to  the  horrified 
dismay  of  the  Imp. 

E>  145  <3 


oyo.. 


oQ:> 


,Ac 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
"Nay,  but  I  will  give  thee  moneys 


"You  are  a-going  to  come  up  to  the 
'ouse  with  me,  and  no  blooming  non- 
sense, either;  d'ye  'ear?" 

"Then  must  I  needs  smite  thee  for  a 
barbarous  dog — hence — base  slave — 
begone  I"  Wherewith  I  delivered 
what  is  technically  known  in  "sport- 
ing" circles  as  a  "right  hook  to  the 
ear,"  followed  by  a  "left  swing  to  the 
chin,"  and  my  assailant  immediately 
disappeared  behind  a  bush,  with  a 
flash  of  pink  silk  calves  and  buckled 
shoes.  Then,  while  the  trim  maid- 
servant filled  the  air  with  her  lamen- 
tations, the  Imp  and  I  ran  hot-foot 
for  the  wall,  over  which  I  bundled 
him  neck  and  crop,  and  we  set  off  pell- 
mell  along  the  river-path. 

"Oh,  Uncle  Dick,"  he  panted,  "how 

— how  fine  you  are !  you  knocked  yon 

footman — I   mean   varlet — from   his 

saddle  like — like  anything.  Oh,  I  do 

£>  146  <s 


fc 


CAPRICE 

wish  you  would  play  like  this  every 
night!" 

"Heaven  forbid  1"  I  exclaimed  fer- 
vently. 

Coming  at  last  to  the  shrubbery 
gate,  we  paused  awhile  to  regain  our 
breath. 

"Uncle  Dick,"  said  the  Imp,  regard- 
ing me  with  a  thoughtful  eye,  "did 
you  see  his  arm — I  mean  before  you 
smote  him  'hip  and  thigh'?" 

"I  did." 

"It  was  round  her  waist." 

"Imp,  it  was." 

"Just  like  Peter's?" 

"Yes." 

"An*  the  man  with  the  funny 
name?" 

"Archibald's,  yes." 

"An'— an' " 

"And  mine,"  I  put  in,  seeing  he 
paused. 

"Uncle  Dick— why?" 

"Ah!  who  knows,  Imp — perhaps  it 
t>  147  « 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

was  the  Moon-magic.  And  now  by 
my  troth!  'tis  full  time  all  good 
knights  were  snoring,  so  hey  for  bed 
and  the  Slumber-world!" 

The  ladder  was  dragged  from  its 
hiding  place,  and  the  Imp,  having 
mounted,  watched  me  from  his  win- 
dow as  I  returned  it  to  the  laurels  for 
very  obvious  reasons. 

"We  didn't  see  any  fairies,  did  we, 
Uncle  Dick?" 

"Well,  I  think  I  did,  Imp,  just  for  a 
moment;  I  may  have  been  mistaken, 
of  course,  but  anyhow,  it  has  been  a 
very  wonderful  night  all  the  same. 
And  so — God  rest  you,  fair  Knight!" 


&  148  o 


THE  EPISODE  OF  THE  INDIANA  AUNT 

K 

THE  sun  blazed  down,  as  any  truly 
self-respecting  sun  should,  on  a  fine 
August  afternoon;  yet  its  heat  was 
tempered  by  a  soft,  cool  breeze  that 
just  stirred  the  leaves  above  my  head. 
The  river  was  busy  whispering  many 
things  to  the  reeds,  things  which,  had 

I   been  wise   enough   to   understand, 
° 

might  have  helped  me  to  write  many 
wonderful  books,  for,  as  it  is  so  very 
old,  and  has  both  seen  and  heard  so 
much,  it  is  naturally  very  wise.  But 
alas!  being  ignorant  of  the  language 
of  rivers,  I  had  to  content  myself  with 
my  own  dreams,  and  the  large, 
speckled  frog,  that  sat  beside  me, 
watching  the  flow  of  the  river  with  his 
big,  gold-rimmed  eyes. 
D  149  <3 


» 

**jt  )l\v^ 


' 


fe--' 

1°   ••. 


IP 


. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

He  was  happy  enough  I  was  sure. 
There  was  a  complacent  satisfaction 
in  every  line  of  his  fat,  mottled  body. 
And  as  I  watched  him  my  mind  very 
naturally  reverted  to  the  "Pickwick 
Papers,"  and  I  repeated  Mrs.  Lyon- 
Hunter's  deathless  ode,  beginning: 

Can  I  see  thee  panting,  dying, 
On  a  log, 
Expiring  frog! 

The  big,  green  frog  beside  me  list- 
ened with  polite  attention,  but,  on  the 
whole,  seemed  strangely  unmoved. 
Remembering  the  book  in  my  pocket, 
I  took  it  out;  an  old  book,  with  bat- 
tered leathern  covers,  which  has 
passed  through  many  hands  since  it 
was  first  published,  more  than  two 
hundred  years  ago. 

Indeed  it  is  a  wonderful,  a  most  de- 
lightful book,  known  to  the  world  as 
"The  Compleat  Angler,"  in  which,  to 
be  sure,  one  may  read  something  of 
E>  150  o 


«0o 


c'Oo 


>tf- 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

fish  and  fishing,  but  more  about  old 
Izaac's  lovable  self,  his  sunny 
streams  and  shady  pools,  his  buxom 
milkmaids,  and  sequestered  inns,  and 
his  kindly  animadversions  upon  men 
and  things  in  general.  Yet,  as  I  say, 
he  does  occasionally  speak  of  fish  and 
fishing,  and  amongst  other  matters, 
concerning  live  frogs  as  bait,  after  de- 
scribing the  properest  method  of  im- 
paling one  upon  the  hook,  he  ends 
with  this  injunction: 

Treat  it  as  though  you  loved  it,  that 
it  may  live  the  longer! 

Up  till  now  the  frog  had  preserved 
his  polite  attentiveness  in  a  manner 
highly  creditable  to  his  upbringing, 
but  this  proved  too  much;  his  over- 
charged feelings  burst  from  him  in 
a  hoarse  croak,  and  he  disappeared 
into  the  river  with  a  splash. 

"Good-afternoon,  Uncle  Dick!"  said 
a  voice  at  my  elbow,  and  looking 


E> 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

round,  I  beheld  Dorotfty.  Beneath 
one  arm  she  carried  the  fluffy  kitten, 
and  in  the  other  hand  a  scrap  of 
paper. 

"I  promised  Reginald  to  give  you 
this,"  she  continued,  "and — oh  yes — 
I  was  to  say  'Hist !'  first." 

"Really!  And  why  were  you  to  say 
'Hist'?" 

"Oh,  because  all  Indians  always  say 
'Hist !'  you  know." 

"To  be  sure  they  do,"  I  answered; 
"but  am  I  to  understand  that  you  are 
an  Indian?" 

"Not  to-day,"  replied  Dorothy, 
shaking  her  head.  "Last  time  Reginald 
painted  me  Auntie  was  awfull'  angry 
— it  took  her  and  nurse  ages  to  get 

o  o 

it  all  off — the  war-paint,  I  mean — so 
I'm  afraid  I  can't  be  an  Indian 
again!" 

"That's  very  unfortunate!"  I 
said. 

"Yes,  isn't  it;  but  nobody  can  be  an 
s>  152  <3 


y 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Indian  chief  without  any  war-paint, 
can  they?" 

"Certainly  not,"  I  answered.  "You 
seem  to  know  a  great  deal  about  it." 

"Oh,  yes,"  nodded  Dorothy.  "Reg- 
inald has  a  book  all  about  Indians  and 
full  of  pictures — and  here's  the  let- 
ter," she  ended,  and  slipped  it  into  my 
hand. 

Smoothing  out  its  many  folds  and 
creases,  I  read  aloud,  as  follows: 

To  my  pall-face  brother: 

Ere  another  moon,  Spotted  Snaik 
will  be  upon  the  war-path,  and  red 
goar  shall  flo  in  buckkit-fulls. 

"It  sounds  dreadful,  doesn't  it?" 
said  Dorothy,  hugging  her  kitten. 

"Horrible!"  I  returned. 

"He  got  it  out  of  the  book,  you 
know,"  she  went  on,  "but  I  put  in  the 
part  about  the  buckets — a  bucket 
holds  such  an  awful  lot,  don't  you 
think?  But  there's  some  more  on  the 
s>  153  <* 


r 


y 


,>iM^ 


&  n  (• 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

other  page."      Obediently   I   turned, 
and  read: 

'ere  another  moon,  scalps  shall 
dangel  at  belt  of  Spotted  Snaik,  for  in 
his  futsteps  lurk  deth,  and  distruksion. 
But  fear  not  pail-face,  thou  art  my 
brother — fairwell. 

Sined 
SPOTTED  SNAIK. 

"There  was  lots  more,  but  we 
couldn't  get  it  in,"  said  Dorothy. 
Squeezed  up  into  a  corner  I  found  this 
postscript : 

If  you  will  come  and  be  an  Indian 
Cheef  unkel  dick,  I  will  make  you  a 
spear,  and  you  can  be  Blood-in-the- 
Eye.  He  was  a  fine  chap  and  nobody 
could  beat  him  except  Spotted  Snaik, 
will  you  Unkel  dick? 

"He  wants  you  to  write  an  answer, 
and  I'm  to  take  it  to  him,"  said  Dor- 
othy. 

"Blood-in-the-Eye!"  I  repeated;  "no, 
I'm  afraid  not.  I  shouldn't  object  so 
s>  154  <3 


...  (wf     ^NMft 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

much  to  becoming  a  red-skin — for  a 
time — but  Blood-in-the-Eye  I  Really, 
Dorothy,  I'm  afraid  I  couldn't  man- 
age that." 

"He  was  very  brave,"  returned  Dor- 
othy, "and  awfull'  strong,  and  could 

—could  'throw  his  lance  with  such 
unerring  aim,  as  to  pin  his  foe  to  the 
nearest  tree — in  the  twinkle  of  an 
eye.'  That's  in  the  book,  you  know." 

"There  certainly  must  be  a  great 
deal  of  satisfaction  in  pinning  one's 
foe  to  a  tree,"  I  nodded. 

"Y-e-e-s,  I  suppose  so,"  said  Dor- 
othy rather  dubiously. 

"And  where  is  Spotted  Snake — I 
mean,  what  is  he  doing?" 

"Oh,  he's  down  by  the  river  with  his 
bow  and  arrow,  scouting  for  canoes. 
It  was  great  fun!  He  shot  at  a  man 
in  a  boat — and  nearly  hit  him,  and  the 
man  got  very  angry  indeed,  so  we 
had  to  hide  among  the  bushes,  just 
like  real  Indians.  Oh,  it  was  fine !" 
s>  155  <3 


/T*® 

w./'*^ '  * '  "X  *^^\  s      f*~^^  t/""*v  VV  Vi  *V  /     I//-  f^       *  *      Q     /  /          •     -x ' "  '^'       fjT 

U*  (( 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


"But  your  Auntie  Lisbeth  said  you 

j 

weren't  to  play  near  the  river,  you 
know,"  I  said. 

"That's  what  I  told  him,"  returned 
Dorothy,  "but  he  said  that  Indians 
didn't  have  any  aunts,  and  then  I 
didn't  know  what  to  say.  What  do 
you  think  about  it,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Well,"  I  answered,  "now  I  come  to 
consider,  I  can't  remember  ever  hav- 
ing heard  of  an  Indian's  aunt." 

"Poor  things!"  said  Dorothy,  giving 
the  fluffy  kitten  a  kiss  between  the 
ears. 

"Yes,  it's  hard  on  them,  perhaps, 
and  yet,"  I  added  thoughtfully,  "an 
aunt  is  sometimes  rather  a  mixed 
blessing.  Still,  whether  an  Indian 
possesses  an  aunt  or  not,  the  fact  re- 
mains that  water  has  an  unpleasant 
habit  of  wetting  one,  and  on  the  whole, 
I  think  I'll  go  and  see  what  Spotted 
Snake  is  up  to." 

"Then  I  think  I'll  come  with  you  a 
£>  156  « 


$*' 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

little  way,"  said  Dorothy,  as  I  rose. 
"You  see,  I  have  to  get  Louise  her 
afternoon's  milk." 

"And  how  is  Louise?"  I  inquired, 
pulling  the  fluffy  kitten's  nearest  ear. 

"Very  well,  thank  you,"  answered 
Dorothy  demurely;  "but  oh  dear  me! 
kittens  'are  such  a  constant  source  of 
worry  and  anxiety!'  Auntie  Lisbeth 
sometimes  says  that  about  Reginald 
and  me.  I  wonder  what  she  would 
say  if  we  were  kittens!" 

"Bye  the  bye,  where  is  your  Auntie 
Lisbeth?"  I  asked  in  a  strictly  conver- 
sational tone. 

"Well,  she's  lying  in  the  old  boat." 

"In  the  old  boat!"  I  repeated. 

"Yes,"  nodded  Dorothy;  "when  it's 
nice  and  warm  and  sleepy,  like  to-day, 
she  takes  a  book,  and  a  pillow,  and  a 
sunshade,  and  she  goes  and  lies  in  the 
old  boat  under  the  Water-stairs. 
There,  just  look  at  this  naughty 
Louise!"  she  broke  off,  as  the  kitten 
£>  157 


M 
*& 

A 


^£. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

1  scrambled  up  to  her  shoulder  and 
stood  there,  balancing  itself  very  dex- 
trously  with  curious  angular  move- 
ments of  its  tail;  "that's  because  she 
thinks  I've  forgotten  her  milk,  you 
know;  she's  dreadfully  impatient,  but 
I  suppose  I  must  humour  her  this 
once.  Good-afternoon!"  And,  having 
given  me  her  hand  in  her  demure,  old- 
fashioned  way,  Dorothy  hurried  off, 
the  kitten  still  perched  upon  her 
shoulder,  its  tail  jerking  spasmodically 
with  her  every  step. 

In  a  little  while  I  came  in  view  of  the 
Water-stairs,  yet  although  I  paused 
more  than  once  to  look  about  me,  I 
saw  no  sign  of  the  Imp.  Thinking  he 
was  most  probably  'in  ambush'  some- 
where, I  continued  my  way,  whistling 
an  air  out  of  "The  Geisha"  to  attract 
his  notice.  Ten  minutes  or  more 
elapsed,  however,  without  any  sign  of 
him,  and  I  was  already  close  to  the 
stairs,  when  I  stopped  whistling  all 

D     I58    <I 


?       £Y° 

^     £v^> 

£»    c.oT 


^Y 

^S.    A 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

at  once,  and  holding  my  breath,  crept 
forward  on  tiptoe. 

There  before  me  was  the  old  boat, 
and  in  it — her  cheek  upon  a  crimson 
cushion  and  the  sun  making  a  glory  of 
her  tumbled  hair — was  Lisbeth — • 
asleep. 

Being  come  as  near  as  I  dared  for 
fear  of  waking  her,  I  sat  down,  and 
lighting  my  pipe,  fell  to  watching 
her — 'the  up-curving  shadow  of  her 
lashes,  the  gleam  of  teeth  between  the 
scarlet  of  her  parted  lips,  and  the  soft 
undulation  of  her  bosom.  And  from 
the  heavy  braids  of  her  hair  my 
glance  wandered  down  to  the  little  tan 
shoe  peeping  at  me  beneath  her  skirt, 
and  I  called  to  mind  how  Goethe  has 
said: 

'A  pretty  foot  is  not  only  a  continual 
joy,  but  it  is  the  one  element  of  beauty 
that  defies  the  assaults  of  Time.' 

Sometimes  a  butterfly  hovered  past, 
D  159  o 


'^r 


-( 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

a  bee  filled  the  air  with  his  drone,  or 
a  bird  settled  for  a  moment  upon  the 
stairs  near-by  to  preen  a  ruffled 
feather,  while  soft  and  drowsy  with 
distance  came  the  ceaseless  roar  of  the 
weir. 

I  do  not  know  how  long  I  had  sat 
thus,  supremely  content,  when  I  was 
suddenly  aroused  by  a  rustling  close 
at  hand. 

"Hist!" 

I  looked  up  sharply,  and  beheld 
a  head,  a  head  adorned  with  sun- 
dry feathers,  and  a  face  hid- 
eously streaked  with  red  and  green 
paint;  but  there  was  no  mistak- 
ing those  golden  curls — it  was  the 
Imp! 

"Hist!"  he  repeated,  bringing  out 
the  word  with  a  prolonged  hiss,  and 
then — before  I  could  even  guess  at 
his  intention — there  was  the  swift 
gleam  of  a  knife,  a  splash  of  the  sev- 
ered painter,  and  caught  by  the  tide 
s>  160  <3 


/    V 

s£i 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

the  old  boat  swung  out,  and  was 
adrift. 

The  Imp  stood  gazing  on  his  handi- 
work with  wide  eyes,  and  then  as  I 
leaped  to  my  feet  something  in  my 
look  seemed  to  frighten  him,  for  with- 
out a  word  he  turned  and  fled. 

But  all  my  attention  was  centred  in 
the  boat,  which  was  drifting  slowly 
into  mid-stream  with  Lisbeth  still  fast 
asleep.  And  as  I  watched  its  slug- 
gish progress,  with  a  sudden  chill  I 
remembered  the  weir,  which  foamed 
and  roared  only  a  short  half-mile 
away.  If  the  boat  once  got  drawn 
into  that—  -! 

Now,  I  am  quite  aware  that  under 
these  circumstances  the  right  and 
proper  thing  for  me  to  have  done, 
would  have  been  to  throw  aside  my 
coat,  tear  off  my  boots,  etc.,  and 
"boldly  breast  the  foamy  flood."  But 
I  did  neither,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  once  within  the  'foamy  flood' 
f>  161  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

aforesaid,  there  would  have  been  very 
little  chance  of  my  ever  getting  out 
again,  for — let  me  confess  the  fact 
with  the  blush  of  shame — I  am  no 
swimmer. 

Yet  I  was  not  idle,  far  otherwise. 
Having  judged  the  distance  between 
the  drifting  boat  and  the  bank,  I  be- 
gan running  along,  seeking  the  thing 
I  wanted.  And  presently,  sure 
enough,  I  found  it — a  great  pollard 
oak,  growing  upon  the  edge  of  the 
water,  that  identical  tree  with  the 
'stickie-out'  branches  which  has  al- 
ready figured  in  these  narratives  as  the 
hiding-place  of  a  certain  pair  of  silk 
stockings. 

Hastily  swinging  myself  up,  I  got 
astride  the  lowest  branch,  which  pro- 
jected out  over  the  water.  I  had  dis- 
tanced the  boat  by  some  hundred 
yards,  and  as  I  sat  there  I  watched 
its  drift,  one  minute  full  of  hope,  and 
the  next  as  miserably  uncertain. 
e>  162  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

My  obvious  intention  was  to  crawl 
out  upon  the  branch  until  it  bent  with 
my  weight,  and  so  let  myself  into,  or 
as  near  the  boat  as  possible. 

It  was  close  now,  so  close  that  I 
could  see  the  gleam  of  Lisbeth's  hair 
and  the  point  of  the  little  tan  shoe. 
With  my  eyes  on  this,  I  writhed  my 
way  along  the  bough,  which  bent 
more  and  more  as  I  neared  the  end. 
Here  I  hung,  swaying  up  and  down 
and  to  and  fro  in  a  highly  unpleasant 
manner,  while  I  waited  the  crucial 
moment. 

Never  upon  this  whole  round  earth 
did  anything  creep  as  that  boat  did. 
There  was  a  majestic  deliberation  in  its 
progress  that  positively  maddened  me. 
I  remember  to  have  once  read  an  arti- 
cle somewhere  upon  the  "Sensibility  of 
Material  Things,"  or  something  of  the 
sort,  which  I  had  forgotten  long  since, 
but  as  I  hung  there  suspended  between 
heaven  and  earth,  it  came  back  to 

D  163  o 


1 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

me  with  a  rush,  and  I  was  perfectly 
.  .  .  . 

certain  that,  recognising  my  precari- 
ous position,  that  time-worn,  ancient 
boat  checked  its  speed  out  of  "pure 
cussedness." 

But  all  things  have  an  end,  and  so, 
little  by  little  the  blunt  bow  crept 
nearer  until  it  was  in  the  very  shade 
of  my  tree.  Grasping  the  branch,  I 
let  myself  swing  at  arm's  length;  and 
then  I  found  that  I  was  at  least  a 
foot  too  near  the  bank.  Edging  my 
way,  therefore,  still  further  along  the 
branch,  I  kicked  out  in  a  desperate  en- 
deavour to  reach  the  boat,  and,  the 
bough  swaying  with  me,  caught  my 
toe  inside  the  gunwale,  drew  it  under 
me,  and  loosing  my  grasp,  was  sprawl- 
ing upon  my  hands  and  knees,  but  safe 
aboard. 

To  pick  myself  up  was  the  work  of 
a  moment,  yet  scarcely  had  I  done  so, 
when  Lisbeth  opened  her  eyes,   and 
sitting  up,  stared  about  her. 
s>  164  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Why— where  am  I?"  she  ex- 
claimed. 

"On  the  river,"  I  answered  cheer- 
fully. "Glorious  afternoon,  Lisbeth, 
isn't  it?" 

"How — in — the — world  did  you  get 
here?"  she  inquired. 

"Well,"  I  answered,  "I  might  say  I 
dropped  in  as  it  were."  Lisbeth 
brushed  the  hair  from  her  temples, 
and  turned  to  me  with  an  imperious 
gesture. 

"Then  please  take  me  back  at  once," 
she  said. 

"I  would  with  pleasure,"  I  returned, 
"only  that  you  forgot  to  bring  the 
oars." 

"Why,  then,  we  are  adrift  I"  she 
said,  staring  at  me  with  frightened 
eyes,  and  clasping  her  hands  ner- 
vously. 

"We  are,"  I  nodded;  "but,  then,  it's 

perfect  weather  for  boating,  Lisbeth !" 

And  I  began  to  look  about  for  some- 

£>  165  <3 


^QB)Ss 


- 


^'ASJ 


A 


MY  LADY* CAPRICE 

thing  that  might  serve  as  a  paddle. 
But  the  stretchers  had  disappeared 
long  since — the  old  tub  was  a  sheer 
hulk,  so  to  speak.  An  attempt  to  tear 
up  a  floor  board  resulted  only  in  a 
broken  nail  and  bleeding  fingers;  so 
I  presently  desisted,  and  rolling  up  my 
sleeves  endeavoured  to  paddle  with  my 
hands.  But  finding  this  equally  futile, 
I  resumed  my  coat,  and  took  out  pipe 
and  tobacco. 

"Oh,  Dick !  is  there  nothing  you  can 
do?"  she  asked,  with  a  brave  attempt 
to  steady  the  quiver  in  her  voice. 

"With  your  permission,  I'll  smoke, 
Lisbeth." 

"But  the  weir!"  she  cried;  "have  you 
forgotten  the  weir?" 

"No,"  I  answered,  shaking  my  head; 
"it  has  a  way  of  obtruding  itself  on 
one's  notice " 

"Oh,  it  sounds  hateful — hateful!" 
she  said  with  a  shiver. 

"Like  a  strong  wind  among  trees!" 
£>  166  o 

art* 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

I  nodded,  as  I  filled  my  pipe.  We 
were  approaching  a  part  of  the  river 
where  it  makes  a  sharp  bend  to  the 
right;  and  well  I  knew  what  lay  be- 
yond— the  row  of  posts,  painted 
white,  with  the  foam  and  bubble  of 
seething  water  below.  We  should 
round  that  bend  in  about  ten  minutes, 
I  judged;  long  before  then  we  might 
see  a  boat,  to  be  sure;  if  not — well,  if 
the  worst  happened,  I  could  but  do 
my  best;  in  the  meantime  I  would 
smoke  a  pipe;  but  I  will  admit 
my  fingers  trembled  as  I  struck  a 
match. 

"It  sounds  horribly  close  I"  said  Lis- 
beth. 

"Sound  is  very  deceptive,  you  know," 
I  answered. 

"Only  last  month  a  boat  went  over, 
and  the  man  was  drowned!"  shud- 
dered Lisbeth. 

"Poor  chap!"  I  said.     "Of  course 
it's  different  at  night — the  river  is  aw- 
£>  167  <3 


^^^^ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
fully  deserted  then,  you  know,   and 

"But  it  happened  in  broad  day- 
light 1"  said  Lisbeth,  almost  in  a  whis- 
per. She  was  sitting  half  turned  from 
me,  her  gaze  fixed  on  the  bend  of  the 
river,  and  by  chance  her  restless  hand 
had  found  and  begun  to  fumble  with 
the  severed  painter. 

So  we  drifted  on,  watching  the  glid- 
ing banks,  while  every  moment  the 
roar  of  the  weir  grew  louder  and 
more  threatening. 

"Dick,"  she  said  suddenly,  "we  can 
never  pass  that  awful  place  without 
oars!"  and  she  began  to  tie  knots  in 
the  rope  with  fingers  that  shook  piti- 
fully. 

"Oh,  I  don't  know!"  I  returned, 
with  an  assumption  of  ease  I  was  very 
far  from  feeling;  "and  then,  of  course, 
we  are  bound  to  meet  a  boat  or  some- 
thing  " 

"But  suppose  we  don't?" 
s>  168  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Oh,  well,  we  aren't  there  yet — and 
er — let's  talk  of  fish." 

"Ah,  Dick,"  she  cried,  "how  can  you 
treat  the  matter  so  lightly  when  we 
may  be  tossing  down  there  in  that  aw- 
ful water  so  very  soon !  We  can  never 
pass  that  weir  without  oars,  and  you 
know  it,  and — and — oh,  Dick,  why 
did  you  do  it — how  could  you  have 
been  so  mad?" 

"Do  what?"  I  inquired,  staring. 

With  a  sudden  gesture  she  rose  to  her 
knees  and  fronted  me. 

"This!"  she  cried,  and  held  up  the 
severed  painter.  "It  has  been  cut! 
Oh,  Dick !  Dick !  how  could  you  be  so 
mad." 

"Lisbeth!"  I  exclaimed,  "do  you 
mean  to  say  that  you  think " 

"I  know !"  she  broke  in,  and  turning 
away,  hid  her  face  in  her  hands. 

We  were  not  so  very  far  from  the 
bend  now,  and  seeing  this,  a  sudden 
inspiration  came  upon  me,  by  means 
E>  169  <s 


y 


« 


ul 

•^Vk 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

of  which  I  might  prove  her  mind  to- 
wards me  once  and  for  all;  and  as 
she  kneeled  before  me  with  averted 
face,  I  leaned  forward  and  took  her 
hands  in  mine. 

"Lisbeth,"  I  said,  "supposing  I  did 
cut  the  boat  adrift,  like  a — a  fool- 
endangering    your    life    for    a    mad, 
thoughtless  whim — could  you  forgive 
me?" 

For  a  long  moment  she  remained 
without  answering,  then  very  slowly 
she  raised  her  head: 

"Oh,  Dick!"  was  all  she  said,  but 
in  her  eyes  I  read  the  wonder  of  won- 
ders. 

"But,  Lisbeth,"  I  stammered,  "could 
you  still  love  me — even — even  if, 
through  my  folly,  the  worst  should 
happen  and  we — we " 

"I  don't  think  I  shall  be  so  very 
much  afraid,  Dick,  if  you  will  hold 
me  close  like  this,"  she  whispered. 

The  voice  of  the  weir  had  swelled 
D  170  o 


LADY  CAPRICE 

into  a  roar  by  now,  yet  I  paid  little 
heed;  for  me,  all  fear  was  swallowed 
up  in  a  great  wondering  happiness. 

"Dick,"  she  whispered,  "you  will 
hold  me  tight,  you  will  not  let  me  go 
when — when " 

"Never,"  I  answered;  "nothing 
could  ever  take  you  from  me  now." 
As  I  spoke  I  raised  my  eyes,  and 
glancing  about  beheld  something 
which  altered  the  whole  aspect  of  af- 
fairs— something  which  changed  trag- 
edy into  comedy  all  in  a  moment — a 
boat  was  coming  slowly  round  the 
bend. 

"Lisbeth,  look  up!"  With  a  sigh 
she  obeyed,  her  clasp  tightening  on 
mine,  and  a  dreadful  expectation  in 
her  eyes.  Then  all  at  once  it  was  gone, 
her  pale  cheeks  grew  suddenly  scarlet, 
and  she  slipped  from  my  arms;  and 
thereafter  I  noticed  how  very  care- 
fully her  eyes  avoided  mine. 

The  boat  came  slowly  into  view,  im- 
£>  171  <3 


'&C&s=>  ^ 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

pelled  by  one  who  rowed  with  exactly 
that  amount  of  splashing  which  speaks 
the  true-born  Cockney.  By  dint  of 
much  exertion  and  more  splashing,  he 
presently  ranged  alongside  in  answer 
to  my  hail. 

"Wo't— a  haccident  then?"  he  in- 
quired. 

"Something  of  the  sort,"  I  nodded. 
"Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  tow  us  to 
the  bank  yonder?" 

"Hanythink  to  hoblige !"  he  grinned, 
and  having  made  fast  the  painter, 
proceeded  to  splash  us  to  terra-firma. 
Which  done,  he  grinned  again,  waved 
his  hat,  and  splashed  upon  his  way.  I 
made  the  boat  secure  and  turned  to 
Lisbeth.  She  was  staring  away  to- 
wards the  weir. 


4  I 


"Lisbeth,"  I  began. 


"I  thought  just  now  that — that  it 
was  the  end!"  she  said,  and  shiv- 
ered. 

"And  at  such  times,"  I  added,  "one 

£\ 
D    172   <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


sometimes  says  things  one  would  not 
have  said  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances. My  dear,  I  quite  under- 
stand —  quite,  and  I'll  try  to  forget  — 
you  needn't  fear." 

"Do  you  think  you  can?"  she  asked, 
turning  to  look  at  me. 

"I  can  but  try,"  I  answered.  Now 
as  I  spoke  I  wasn't  sure,  but  I  thought 
I  saw  the  pale  ghost  of  the  dimple 
by  her  mouth. 

We  walked  back  side  by  side  along 
the  river-path,  very  silently,  for  the 
most  part,  yet  more  than  once  I 
caught  her  regarding  me  covertly  and 
with  a  puzzled  air. 

"Well?"  I  said  at  last,  tentatively. 

UI  was  wondering  why  you  did  it, 
Dick?  Oh,  it  was  mean!  cruel! 
wicked  !  How  could  you  ?" 

"Oh,  well"  —  and  I  shrugged  my 
shoulders,  anathematising  the  Imp 
mentally  the  while. 

"If  I  hadn't  noticed  that  the  rope 


173 


Ttv^ 


^jgC 
tf 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

was  freshly  cut,  I  should  have  thought 
it  an  accident,"  she  went  on. 

"Naturally!"  I  said. 

"And  then,  again,  how  came  you  in 
the  boat?" 

"To  be  sure!"  I  nodded. 

"Still,  I  can  scarcely  believe  that  you 
would  wilfully  jeopardise  both  our 
lives — my  life!" 

"A  man  who  would  do  such  a  thing," 
I  exclaimed,  carried  away  by  the  heat 
of  the  moment,  "would  be  a — a " 

"Yes,"  said  Lisbeth.  quickly,  "he 
would." 

" — And  utterly  beyond  the  pale  of 
all  forgiveness!" 

"Yes,"  said  Lisbeth,  "of  course." 

"And,"  I  was  beginning  again,  but 
meeting  her  searching  glance,  stopped. 
"And  you  forgave  me,  Lisbeth,"  I 
ended. 

"Did  I?"  she  said,  with  raised 
brows. 

"Didn't  you?" 

£>  174  <3 


•n 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Not  that  I  remember." 

"In  the  boat?" 

"I  never  said  so." 

"Not  in  words,  perhaps,  but  you  im- 
plied as  much."  Lisbeth  had  the 
grace  to  blush. 

"Do  I  understand  that  I  am  not  for- 
given after  all?" 

"Not  until  I  know  why  you  did  such 
a  mad,  thoughtless  trick,"  she  an- 
swered, with  that  determined  set  of 
her  chin  which  I  knew  so  well. 

That  I  should  thus  shoulder  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  Imp's  misdeeds 
was  ridiculous,  and  wrong  as  it  was  un- 
just, for  if  ever  boy  deserved  punish- 
ment that  boy  was  the  Imp.  And  yet, 
probably  because  he  was  the  Imp,  or 
because  of  that  school-boy  honour 
which  forbids  "sneaking,"  and  which 
I  carried  with  me  still,  I  held  my 
peace;  seeing  which,  Lisbeth  turned 
and  left  me. 

I  stood  where  I  was,  with  head  bent 
£>  175  <3 

ZX0^£ft  rJSxa  (PvflSk 


LADY  CAPRICE 

in  an  attitude  suggestive  of  innocence, 
broken  hopes,  and  gentle  resignation, 
but  in  vain;  she  never  once  looked 
back.  Still,  martyr  though  I  was,  the 
knowledge  that  I  had  immolated  my- 
self upon  the  altar  of  friendship  filled 
me  with  a  sense  of  conscious  virtue 
that  I  found  not  ill-pleasing.  How- 
beit,  seeing  I  am  but  human  after  all, 
I  sat  down  and  re-filling  my  pipe,  fell 
once  more  anathematising  the  Imp. 

"Hist!" 

A  small  shape  flittered  from  behind 
an  adjacent  tree,  and  lo!  the  subject 
of  my  thoughts  stood  before  me. 

"Imp,"  I  said,  "come  here."  He 
obeyed  readily.  "When  you  cut  that 
rope  and  set  your  Auntie  Lisbeth 
adrift,  you  didn't  remember  the  man 
who  was  drowned  in  the  weir  last 
month,  did  you?" 

"No!"  he  answered,  staring. 

"Of  course  not,"  I  nodded;  "but  all 

the  same  it  is  not  your  fault  that  your 

£>  176  o 


H 


« 

•^         iX'J          VV, 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Auntie  Lisbeth  is  not  drowned — just 
as  he  was." 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  the  Imp,  and  his 
beloved  bow  slipped  from  his  nerve- 
less fingers. 

ulmp,"  I  went  on,  "it  was  a  wicked 
thing  to  cut  that  rope,  a  mean,  cruel 
trick.  Don't  you  think  so  ?" 

"I  'specks  it  was,  Uncle  Dick." 

"Don't  you  think  you  ought  to  be 
punished?"  He  nodded.  "Very 
well,"  I  answered,  "I'll  punish  you 
myself.  Go  and  cut  me  a  nice, 
straight  switch,"  and  I  handed  him 
my  open  penknife.  Round-eyed,  the 
Imp  obeyed,  and  for  a  space  there  was 
a  prodigious  cracking  and  snapping  of 
sticks.  In  a  little  while  he  returned 
with  three,  also  the  blade  of  my  knife 
was  broken,  for  which  he  was  pro- 
fusely apologetic. 

"Now,"    I   said,    as   I   selected  the 
weapon  fittest  for  the  purpose,  "I  am 
going  to  strike  you  hard  on  either 
£>  177  « 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

hand  with  this  stick — that  is,  if  you 
think  you  deserve  it." 

"Was  Auntie  Lisbeth  nearly  drowned 
— really?"  he  inquired. 

"Very  nearly,  and  was  only  saved  by 
a  chance." 

"All  right,  Uncle  Dick,  hit  me,"  he 
said,  and  held  out  his  hand.  The  stick 
whizzed  and  fell — once — twice.  I 
saw  his  face  grow  scarlet  and  the 
tears  leap  to  his  eyes,  but  he  uttered 
no  sound. 

"Did  it  hurt  very  much,  my  Imp?"  I 
inquired,  as  I  tossed  the  stick  aside. 

He  nodded,  not  trusting  himself  to 
speak,  while  I  turned  to  light  my 
pipe,  wasting  three  matches  quite 
fruitlessly. 

"Uncle  Dick,"  he  burst  out  at  last, 
struggling  manfully  against  his  sobs, 
"I— I'm  awfull'— sorry- 

"Oh,  it's  all  right  now,  Imp.  Shake 
hands!"  Joyfully  the  little,  grimy 
fingers  clasped  mine,  and  from  that 
£>  178  <3 


oo 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

moment  I  think  there  grew  up  be- 
tween us  a  new  understanding. 

"Why,  Imp,  my  darling,  you're  cry- 
ing!" exclaimed  a  voice,  and  with  a 
rustle  of  skirts  Lisbeth  was  down  be- 
fore him  on  her  knees. 

"I  know  I  am — 'cause  I'm  awfull' 
sorry — an'  Uncle  Dick's  whipped  my 
hands — an'  I'm  glad!" 

"Whipped  your  hands!"  cried  Lis- 
beth, clasping  him  closer,  and  glaring 
at  me,  "whipped  your  hands — how 
dare  he!  What  for?" 

'  'Cause  I  cut  the  rope  an'  let  the 
boat  go  away  with  you,  an'  you  might 
have  been  drowned  dead  in  the  weir, 
an'  I'm  awfull'  glad  Uncle  Dick 
whipped  me." 

"O-h-h!"  exclaimed  Lisbeth,  and  it 
was  a  very  long-drawn  "oh!"  indeed. 

"I  don't  know  what  made  me  do  it," 
continued  the  Imp.  "I  'specks  it  was 
my  new  knife — it  was  so  nice  an' 
sharp,  you  know." 

£>  179  o 


V 


y 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


"Well,  it's  all  right  now,  my  Imp," 
I  said,  fumbling  for  a  match  in  a 
singularly  clumsy  manner.  "If  you 
ask  me,  I  think  we  are  all  better 
friends  than  ever — or  should  be.  I 
know  I  should  be  fonder  of  your 
Auntie  Lisbeth  even  than  before,  and 
take  greater  care  of  her,  if  I  were  you. 
And — and  now  take  her  in  to  tea,  my 
Imp,  and — and  see  that  she  has  plenty 
to  eat,"  and  lifting  my  hat  I  turned 
away.  But  Lisbeth  was  beside  me, 
and  her  hand  was  on  my  arm  before  I 
had  gone  a  yard. 

"We  are  having  tea  in  the  same  old 
place — under  the  trees.  If  you  would 
care  to — to — would  you?" 

"Yes,  do— oh  do,  Uncle  Dick!" 
cried  the  Imp.  "I'll  go  and  tell  Jane  to 
set  a  place  for  you,"  and  he  bounded 
off. 

"I  didn't  hit  him  very  hard,"  I  said, 
breaking  a  somewhat  awkward  silence ; 
"but  you  see  there  are  some  things  a 
s>  180  <3 


CAPRICE 

gentleman  cannot  do.     I  think  he  un- 
derstands now." 

"Oh,  Dick!"  she  said  very  softly; 
"and  to  think  I  could  imagine  you  had 
done  such  a  thing  —  you  ;  and  to  think 
that  you  should  let  me  think  you  had 
done  such  a  thing  —  and  all  to  shield 
that  Imp  ?  Oh,  Dick  !  no  wonder  he  is 
so  fond  of  you.  He  never  talks  of 
any  one  but  you  —  I  grow  quite  jealous 
sometimes.  But,  Dick,  how  did  you 
get  into  that  boat?" 

"By  means  of  a  tree  with  'stickle- 
out'  branches." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  -  " 

"That,  as  I  told  you  before,  I 
dropped  in,  as  it  were." 

"But  supposing  you  had  slipped?" 

"But  I  didn't." 

"And  you  can't  swim  a  stroke  !" 

"Not  that  I  know  of." 

"Oh,  Dick!  can  you  ever  forgive 
me?" 

"On  three  conditions." 
e>  181  <3 


J^-t 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Well?" 

"First,   that  you   let   me   remember 

f 

everything  you  said  to  me  while  we 
were  drifting  down  to  the  weir." 

"That  depends,  Dick.  And  the  sec- 
ond?" 

"The  second  lies  in  the  fact  that  not 
far  from  the  village  of  Down,  in 
Kent,  there  stands  an  old  house — a 
quaint  old  place  that  is  badly  in  want 
of  some  one  to  live  in  it — an  old  house 
that  is  lonely  for  a  woman's  sweet  pres- 
ence and  gentle,  busy  hands,  Lisbeth!" 

"And  the  third?"  she  asked  very 
softly. 

"Surely  you  can  guess  that?" 

"No,  I  can't,  and,  besides,  there's 
Dorothy  coming — and — oh,  Dick!" 

"Why,  Auntie,"  exclaimed  Dorothy, 
as  she  came  up,  "how  red  you  are! 


I  knew  you'd  get  sunburned,  lying  in 
that  old  boat  without  a  parasol !  But, 
then,  she  will  do  it,  Uncle  Dick — oh, 
she  will  do  it!" 

E>    182    <3 


f*"' v 

t<- 

$bs; 


VI 

THE  OUTLAW 

EVERYBODY  knew  old  Jasper  Trent, 
the  Crimean  Veteran  who  had  helped 
to  beat  the  "Roosians  and  the  Proo- 
sians,"  and  who,  so  it  was  rumored, 
had  more  wounds  upon  his  worn,  bent 
body  than  there  were  months  in  the 
year. 

The  whole  village  was  proud  of  old 
Jasper,  proud  of  his  age,  proud  of 
his  wounds,  and  proud  of  the  medals 
that  shone  resplendent  upon  his 
shrunken  breast. 

Any  day  he  might  have  been  seen 
hobbling  along  by  the  river,  or  pot- 
tering among  the  flowers  in  his  little 
garden,  but  oftener  still  sitting  on  the 
bench  in  the  sunshine  beside  the  door 
of  the  "Three  Jolly  Anglers." 


••-•'    ^    -i'--.:         /-/A          --  •-',        4         '.-., 

'ti^'.^.>^^-^X4j!is^^^^ 

C4  PRICE 


Indeed,  they  made  a  fitting  pair,  the 
worn  old  soldier  and  the  ancient  inn, 
alike  both  long  behind  the  times, 
dreaming  of  the  past,  rather  than  the 
future;  which  seemed  to  me  like  an 
invisible  bond  between  them.  Thus, 
when  old  Jasper  fell  ill  and  taking  to 
his  bed  had  it  moved  opposite  the 
window  where  he  could  lie  with  his 
eyes  upon  the  battered  gables  of  the 
inn  —  I  for  one  could  understand  the 
reason. 

The  Three  Jolly  Anglers  is  indeed 
ancient,  its  early  records  long  since 
lost  beneath  the  dust  of  centuries;  yet 
the  years  have  but  served  to  mellow 
it.  Men  have  lived  and  died,  nations 
have  waxed  and  waned,  still  it  stands, 
all  unchanged  beside  the  river,  watch- 
ing the  Great  Tragedy  which  we  call 
"Life"  with  that  same  look  of  su- 
preme wisdom,  that  half-waggish, 
half-kindly  air,  which  I  have  already 
mentioned  once  before. 
£>  184  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

I  think  such  inns  as  this  must  extend 
some  subtle  influence  upon  those  who 
meet  regularly  within  their  walls — 
these  Sons  of  the  Soil,  horny-handed, 
and  for  the  most  part  grey  of  head 
and  bent  with  over  much  following  of 
the  plough.  Quiet  of  voice  are  they, 
and  profoundly  sedate  of  gesture, 
while  upon  their  wrinkled  brows  there 
sits  that  spirit  of  calm  content  which  it 
is  given  so  few  of  us  to  know. 

Chief  among  these,  and  held  in  much 
respect,  was  old  Jasper  Trent.  Within 
their  circle  he  had  been  wont  to  sit 
ensconced  in  his  elbow-chair  beside  the 
hearth,  his  by  long  use  and  custom, 
and  not  to  be  usurped;  and  while  the 
smoke  rose  slowly  from  their  pipe- 
bowls,  and  the  ale  foamed  in  tankards 
at  their  elbows,  he  would  recount 
some  tale  of  battle  and  sudden  death 
— now  in  the  freezing  trenches  before 
Sebastopol,  now  upon  the  blood- 
stained heights  of  Inkermann.  Yet, 
£>  185  <3 


fc*$%^    -J^^r-ir; 


CAPRICE 

and  I  noticed  it  was  always  towards 
the  end  of  his  second  tankard,  the  old 
man  would  lose  the  thread  of  his 
story,  whatever  it  might  be,  and  take 
up  the  topic  of  "The  Bye  Jarge." 

I  was  at  first  naturally  perplexed  as 
to  whom  he  could  mean,  until  Mr. 
Amos  Baggett,  the  landlord,  informed 
me  on  the  quiet  that  the  "bye  Jarge" 
was  none  other  than  old  Jasper's  only 
son — a  man  now  some  forty  years  of 
age — who,  though  promising  well  in 
his  youth,  had  "gone  wrong" — and 
was  at  that  moment  serving  a  long 
term  of  imprisonment  for  burglary; 
further,  that  upon  the  day  of  his  son's 
conviction  old  Jasper  had  had  a 
"stroke,"  and  was  never  quite  the 
same  after,  all  recollection  of  the 
event  being  completely  blotted  from 
his  mind,  so  that  he  persisted  in  think- 
ing and  speaking  of  his  son  as  still  a 
boy. 

"That    bye    were    a    wonder!"    he 

£>     l86   <3 


r  7°.  \  A 


t-'V 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

would  say,  looking  round  with  a 
kindling  eye;  "went  away  to  make  'is 
fortun'  'e  did — oh !  'e  were  a  gen'us 
were  that  bye  Jarge !  You,  Amos  Bag- 
gett,  were  'e  a  gen'us  or  were  'e  not?" 

"  'E  were!"  Mr.  Baggett  would  an- 
swer, with  a  slow  nod. 

"Look'ee,  sir,  do'ee  see  that  theer 
clock?" — and  he  would  point  with  a 
bony,  tremulous  finger — "stopped  it 
were — got  sum'mat  wrong  wi'  its 
inn'ards — wouldn't  stir  a  finger — • 
dead  it  were!  But  that  bye  Jarge  'e 
see  it  'e  did — give  it  a  look  over  'e 
did,  an'  wi'  nout  but  'is  two  'ands 
set  it  a-goin'  good  as  ever!  You, 
Silas  Madden ,  you  remember  as  'e 
done  it  wi'  'is  two  'ands?" 

"  'Is  two  'ands!"  Silas  would  repeat 
solemnly. 

"An'  it's  gone  ever  since!"  old  Jas- 
per would  croak  triumphantly.  "Oh! 
'e  were  a  gen'us  were  my  bye  Jarge. 
'E'll  come  a-marchin'  back  to  'is  old 

£>    187    <3 

C1}  ff^/w^ 

* 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

feyther,  some  day,  wi'  'is  pockets 
stuffed  full  o'  money  an'  banki-notes 
— I  knaw — I  knaw,  old  Jasper  bean't 
a  fule." 

And  herewith,  lifting  up  his  old, 
cracked  voice,  he  would  strike  up 
"The  British  Grenadiers,"  in  which 
the  rest  would  presently  join  full  lus- 
tily, waving  their  long-stemmed  pipes 
in  unison. 

So  the  old  fellow  would  sit,  singing 
the  praises  of  his  scapegrace  son, 
while  his  hearers  would  nod  solemn 
heads,  fostering  old  Jasper's  innocent 
delusion  for  the  sake  of  his  white 
hairs  and  the  medals  upon  his 
breast. 

But  now,  he  was  down  with  "the 
rheumatics,"  and  from  what  Lisbeth 
told  me  when  I  met  her  on  her  way  to 
and  from  his  cottage,  it  was  rather 
more  than  likely  that  the  high-backed 
elbow-chair  would  know  him  no  more. 

Upon  the  old  fellow's  illness,  Lisbeth 

£>     1 88  <3 


.11 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

had  promptly  set  herself  to  see  that 
he  was  made  comfortable,  for  Jasper 
was  a  lonely  old  man — had  installed 
a  competent  nurse  beside  him,  and 
made  it  a  custom  morning  and  even- 
ing to  go  and  see  that  all  was  well. 

It  was  for  this  reason  that  I  sat  upon 
the  Shrubbery  gate  towards  nine 
o'clock  of  a  certain  evening,  swinging 
my  legs  and  listening  for  the  sound  of 
her  step  along  the  path.  In  the  ful- 
ness of  time  she  came,  and  getting  off 
my  perch,  I  took  the  heavy  basket 
from  her  arm,  as  was  usual. 

"Dick,"  she  said  as  we  walked  on 
side  by  side,  "really  I'm  getting  quite 
worried  about  that  Imp." 

"What  has  he  been  up  to  this  time?" 
I  inquired. 

"I'm  afraid  he  must  be  ill." 

"He  looked  anything  but  ill  yester- 
day," I  answered  reassuringly. 

"Yes,    I    know    he    looks    healthy 

enough,"  said  Lisbeth,  wrinkling  her 

£>  189  <3 


Kw^^Pi 

^Jis^r^ 


.-    •• 

rt,  ..•      %. 


CAPRICE 

brows;  "but  lately  he  has  developed 
such  an  enormous  appetite.  Oh,  Dick, 
it's  awful!" 

"My  poor  girl,"  I  retorted,  shaking 
my  head,  "the  genus  'Boy'  is  distin- 
guished by  the  two  attributes  dirt 
and  appetite.  You  should  know  that  by 
this  time.  I  myself  have  harrowing 
recollections  of  huge  piles  of  bread 
and  butter,  of  vast  slabs  of  cake — 
damp  and  'soggy,'  and  of  mysterious 
hue — of  glutinous  mixtures  purport- 
ing to  be  'stick-jaw,'  one  inch  of  which 
was  warranted  to  render  coherent 
speech  impossible  for  ten  minutes  at 
least.  And  then  the  joy  of  bolting 
things  fiercely  in  the  shade  of  the  pan- 
try, with  one's  ears  on  the  stretch  for 
foes !  I  sometimes  find  myself  sighing 
over  the  remembrance,  even  in  these 
days.  Don't  worry  about  the  Imp's 
appetite ;  believe  me,  it  is  quite  unneces- 
sary." 

"Oh,  but  I  can't  help  it,"  said  Lis- 
£>  190  o 


^^JwsESSSffs^    x/ 

\Y(^^^^^^^^W§?/TA 


*»  SW/i 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

beth;  "it  seems  somehow  so — so 
weird.  For  instance,  this  morning  for 
breakfast  he  had  first  his  usual  por- 
ridge, then  five  pieces  of  bread  and 
butter,  and  after  that  a  large  slice  of 
ham — quite  a  big  piece,  Dick!  And 
he  ate  it  all  so  quickly.  I  turned  away 
to  ask  Jane  for  the  toast,  and  when  I 
looked  at  his  plate  again  it  was  empty, 
he  had  eaten  every  bit,  and  even  asked 
for  more.  Of  course  I  refused,  so 
he  tried  to  get  Dorothy  to  give  him 
hers  in  exchange  for  a  broken  pocket- 
knife.  It  was  just  the  same  at  dinner. 
He  ate  the  whole  leg  of  a  chicken,  and 
after  that  a  wing,  and  then  some  of 
the  breast,  and  would  have  gone  on 
until  he  had  finished  everything,  I'm 
sure,  if  I  hadn't  stopped  him,  though  I 
let  him  eat  as  long  as  I  dared.  Then 
at  tea  he  had  six  slices  of  bread  and 
butter,  one  after  the  other,  not  count- 
ing toast  and  cake.  He  has  been  like 
this  for  the  last  two  days — and — 
D  191  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

oh,  yes,  cook  told  me  to-night  that 
she  found  him  actually  eating  dry 
bread  just  before  he  went  up  to  bed. 
Dry  bread — think  of  it!  Oh,  Dick, 
what  can  be  the  matter  with 
him?" 

"It  certainly  sounds  mysterious,"  I 
answered,  "especially  as  regards  the 
dry  bread;  but  that  of  itself  suggests  a 
theory,  which,  as  the  detective  says  in 
the  story,  'I  will  not  divulge  just  yet;' 
only  don't  worry,  Lisbeth,  the  Imp  is 
all  right" 

Being  now  come  to  old  Jasper's  cot- 
tage, which  stands  a  little  apart  from 
the  village  in  a  by-lane,  Lisbeth 
paused  and  held  out  her  hand  for  the 
basket. 

"Don't  wait  for  me  to-night,"  she 
said.  "I  ordered  Peter  to  fetch  me  in 
the  dog-cart;  you  see,  I  may  be  late." 

"Is  the  old  chap  so  very  ill?" 

"Very,  very  ill,  Dick." 

"Poor  old  Jasper!"  I  exclaimed. 
s>  192  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Poor  old  Jasper!"  she  sighed,  and 
her  eyes  were  brimful  of  tender- 
ness. 

"He  is  very  old  and  feeble,"  I  said, 
drawing  her  close,  under  pretence  of 
handing  her  the  basket;  "and  yet  with 
your  gentle  hand  to  smooth  my  pillow, 
and  your  eyes  to  look  into  mine,  I 
could  almost  wish " 

"Hush,  Dick!" 

"Peter  or  no  Peter,  I  think  I'll  wait 
— unless  you  really  wish  me  to  say 
'good-night'  now?"  But  with  a  dex- 
terous turn  she  eluded  me,  and  waving 
her  hand  hurried  up  the  rose-bordered 
path. 

An  hour,  or  even  two,  does  not  seem 
so  very  long  when  one's  mind  is  so 
full  of  happy  thoughts  as  mine  was. 
Thus,  I  was  filling  my  pipe  and  look- 
ing philosophically  about  for  a  likely 
spot  in  which  to  keep  my  vigil,  when 
I  was  aware  of  a  rustling  close  by,  and 
as  I  watched  a  small  figure  stepped 
s>  193 


. 


oOV, 


A'' 


o'Oc 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

from  the  shadow  of  the  hedge  out  into 
the  moonlight. 

"Hallo,  Uncle  Dick!"  said  a  voice. 

"Imp!"  I  exclaimed,  "what  does  this 
mean  ?  You  ought  to  have  been  in  bed 
over  an  hour  ago !" 

"So  I  was,"  he  answered  with  his 
guileless  smile;  "only  I  got  up  again, 
you  know." 

"So  it  seems!"  I  nodded. 

"An'  I  followed  you  an'  Auntie  Lis- 
beth  all  the  way,  too." 

"Did  you,  though;  by  George!" 

"Yes,  an'  I  dropped  one  of  the  par- 
cels an'  lost  a  sausage,  but  you  never 
heard." 

"Lost  a  sausage!"  I  repeated,  star- 
ing. 

"Oh,  it's  all  right,  you  know,"  he 
hastened  to  assure  me;  "I  found  it 
again,  an'  it  wasn't  hurt  a  bit." 

"Imp,"  I  said  sternly,  "come  here, 
I  want  to  talk  to  you." 

"Just  a  minute,  Uncle  Dick,  while 

£>    194  <3 


o.  4 


•••.  .••••° 
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c. 


'I 


MY  LADY  CA PRICE 

I  get  my  parcels.  I  want  you  to  help 
me  to  carry  them,  please,"  and  with 
the  words  he  dived  under  the  hedge  to 
emerge  a  moment  later  with  his  arms 
full  of  unwieldy  packages,  which  he 
laid  at  my  feet  in  a  row. 

"Why,  what  on  earth  have  you  got 
there,  Imp?" 

"This,"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  first, 
"is  jam  an'  ham  an'  a  piece  of  bread; 
this  next  one  is  cakes  an'  sardines,  an' 
this  one  is  bread-an'-butter  that  I 
saved  from  my  tea." 

"Quite  a  collection!"  I  nodded. 
"Suppose  you  tell  me  what  you  mean 
to  do  with  them." 

"Well,  they're  for  my  outlaw.  You 
remember  the  other  day  I  wanted  to 
play  at  being  outlaws?  Well,  two 
days  ago,  as  I  was  tracking  a 
base  caitiff  through  the  woods  with 
my  trusty  bow  and  arrow,  I  found 
a  real  outlaw  in  the  old  boat- 
house." 


195 


25^^ 


>      \V 
i  \      v\\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Ah!  and  what  is  he  like?"  I  in- 
quired. 

"Oh,  just  like  an  outlaw — only 
funny,  you  know,  an'  most  awfull' 
hungry.  Are  all  outlaws  always  so 
very  hungry,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"I  believe  they  generally  are, 
Imp.  And  he  looks  'funny,'  you 
say?" 

"Yes;  I  mean  his  clothes  are  funny — 
all  over  marks  like  little  crosses,  only 
they  aren't  crosses." 

"Like  this?"  I  inquired;  and  picking 
up  a  piece  of  stick  I  drew  a  broad-ar- 

•*•  *• 

row  upon  the  path. 

"Yes,  just  like  that !"  cried  the  Imp 
in  a  tone  of  amazement.  "How  did  you 
know?  You're  awfull'  clever,  Uncle 
Dick!" 

"And  he  is  in  the  old  boat-house,  is 
he?"  I  said,  as  I  picked  up  an  armful 
of  packages.  "  'Lead  on,  MacDuff !'  " 

"Mind  that  parcel,  please,  Uncle 
Dick;  it's  the  one  I  dropped  an'  lost 
£>  196  <s 


r*  \(V  *& 

I  it 

iL  nlffsB.- 


iCs 

H   I 


CAPRICE 

the  sausage  out  of — there's  one  trying 
to  escape  now!" 

Having  reduced  the  recalcitrant  sau- 
sage to  a  due  sense  of  law  and  or- 
der, we  proceeded  toward  the  old 
boat-house  —  a  dismal,  dismantled 
affair,  some  half  mile  or  so  down- 
stream. 

"And  what  sort  of  a  fellow  is  your 
outlaw,  Imp?" 

"Well,  I  spected  he'd  be  awfull' 
fierce  an'  want  to  hold  me  for  ransom, 
but  he  didn't;  he's  quite  quiet,  for  an 
outlaw,  with  grey  hair  and  big  eyes, 
an'  eats  an  awful  lot." 

"So  you  saved  him  your  breakfast 
and  dinner,  did  you  ?" 

"Oh,  yes;  an'  my  tea,  too.  Auntie 
Lisbeth  got  awfull'  angry  'cause  she 
said  I  ate  too  fast;  an'  Dorothy  was 
frightened  an'  wouldn't  sit  by  me 
'cause  she  was  'fraid  I'd  burst — so 
frightfully  silly  of  her!" 

"By  the  way,  you  didn't  tell  me  what 
£>  197  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

oA 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


you  have  there,"  I  said,  pointing  to  a 
huge,  misshapen,  newspaper  parcel 
that  he  carried  beneath  one  arm. 

"Oh,  it's  a  shirt,  an'  a  coat,  an'  a 
pair  of  trousers  of  Peter's." 

"Did  Peter  give  them  to  you?" 

"'Course  not;  I  took  them.  You 
see,  my  outlaw  got  tired  of  being  an 
outlaw,  so  he  asked  me  to  get  him 
some  'togs,'  meaning  clothes,  you 
know,  so  I  went  an'  looked  in  the 
stable  an'  found  these." 

"You  don't  mean  to  say  that  you 
stole  them,  Imp?" 

"'Course  not!"  he  answered  re- 
proachfully. "I  left  Peter  sixpence 
an'  a  note  to  say  I  would  pay  him  for 
them  when  I  got  my  pocket-money, 
so  help  me,  Sam!" 

"Ah,  to  be  sure!"  I  nodded. 

We  were  close  to  the  old  boat-house 
now,  and  upon  the  Imp's  earnest 
solicitations  I  handed  over  my  bun- 
dles and  hid  behind  a  tree,  because, 
£>  198  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

as  he  pointed  out,  "his  outlaw  might 
not  like  me  to  see  him  just  at  first." 

Having  opened  each  package  with 
great  care  and  laid  out  their  contents 
upon  a  log  near  by,  the  Imp  ap- 
proached the  ruined  building  with 
signs  of  the  most  elaborate  caution,  and 
gave  three  loud,  double  knocks.  Now 
casting  my  eyes  about,  I  espied  a 
short,  heavy  stick,  and  picking  it  up, 
poised  it  in  my  hand  ready  in  the 

event  of  possible  contingencies. 
.  . 

The  situation  was  decidedly  unpleas- 
ant, I  confess,  for  I  expected  nothing 
less  than  to  be  engaged  in  a  desperate 
hand-to-hand  struggle  within  the  next 
few  minutes;  therefore,  I  waited  in 
some  suspense,  straining  my  eyes  to- 
wards the  shadows  with  my  fingers 
clasped  tight  upon  my  bludgeon. 

Then   all   at  once   I   saw  a  shape, 

ghostly    and    undefined,    flit    swiftly 

from  the  gloom  of  the  boat-house, 

and  next  moment  a  convict  was  stand- 

E>  199  <3 


> 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

ing  beside  the  Imp,  gaunt  and  tall 
and  wild-looking  in  the  moonlight. 

His  hideous  clothes,  stained  with 
mud  and  the  green  slime  of  his  hid- 
ing-places, hung  upon  him  in  tatters, 
and  his  eyes,  deep-sunken  in  his  pallid 
face,  gleamed  with  an  unnatural 
brightness  as  he  glanced  swiftly  about 
him — a  miserable,  hunted  creature, 
worn  by  fatigue,  and  pinched  with 
want  and  suffering. 

"Did  ye  get  'em,  sonny?"  he  in- 
quired, in  a  hoarse,  rasping  voice. 

"Aye,  aye,  comrade,"  returned  the 
Imp;  "all's  well!" 

"Bless  ye  for  that,  sonny!"  he  ex- 
claimed, and  with  the  words  he  fell 
to  upon  the  food,  devouring  each 
morsel  as  it  was  handed  to  him  with 
a  frightful  voracity,  while  his  burn- 
ing, restless  eyes  glared  about  him, 
never  still  for  a  moment. 

Now  as  I  noticed  his  wasted  form 
and  shaking  limbs,  I  knew  that  I  could 

£>    2OO  <3 


A  iM^^mJtir 


MY  LADY  CA PRICE 

master  him  with  one  hand.  My  weapon 
slipped  from  my  slackened  grasp,  but 
at  the  sound,  slight  though  it  was,  he 
turned  and  began  to  run.  He  had  not 
gone  five  yards,  however,  when  he 
tripped  and  fell,  and  before  he  could 
rise  I  was  standing  over  him.  He 
lay  there  at  my  feet,  perfectly  still, 
blinking  up  at  me  with  red-rimmed 
eyes. 

"All  right,  master,"  he  said  at  last; 
"you've  got  me!"  But  with  the 
words  he  suddenly  rolled  himself  to- 
wards the  river,  yet  as  he  struggled  to 
his  knees  I  pinned  him  down  again. 

"Oh,  sir!  you  won't  go  for  to  give 
me  up  to  them?"  he  panted.  "I've 
never  done  you  no  wrong.  For  God's 
sake  don't  send  me  back  to  it  again, 
sir." 

"  'Course  not,"  cried  the  Imp,  lay- 
ing his  hand  upon  my  arm;  "this  is 
only  Uncle  Dick.  He  won't  hurt  you, 
will  you,  Uncle  Dick?" 

£>   2OI    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"That  depends,"  I  answered,  keep- 
ing tight  hold  of  the  tattered  coat 
collar.  "Tell  me,  what  brings  you 
hanging  round  here?" 

"Used  to  live  up  in  these  parts  once, 
master." 

"Who  are  you?" 

"Convict  49,  as  broke  jail  over  a 
week  ago  an'  would  ha'  died  but  for 
the  little  'un  there,"  and  he  nodded  to- 
wards the  Imp. 

The  convict,  as  I  say,  was  a  tall,  thin 
fellow,  with  a  cadaverous  face  lined 
with  suffering,  while  the  hair  at  his 
temples  was  prematurely  white.  And 
as  I  looked  at  him,  it  occurred  to  me 
that  the  suffering  which  had  set  its 
mark  so  <jgeply  upon  him  was  not 
altogether  the  grosser  anguish  of  the 
body.  Now  for  your  criminal  who  can 
still  feel  morally  there  is  surely  hope. 
I  think  so,  anyhow !  For  a  long  mo- 
ment there  was  silence,  while  I  stared 
into  the  haggard  face  below,  and  the 
s>  202  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Imp  looked  from  one  to  the  other  of 
us,  utterly  at  a  loss. 

"I  wonder  if  you  ever  heard  tell  of 
'the  bye  Jarge,'  "  I  said  suddenly. 

The  convict  started  so  violently  that 
the  jacket  tore  in  my  grasp. 

"How — how  did  ye  know — ?"  he 
gasped,  and  stared  at  me  with  dropped 
jaw. 

"I  think  I  know  your  father." 

"My  feyther,"  he  muttered;  "old 
Jasper — 'e  ain't  dead,  then?" 

"Not  yet,"  I  answered;  "come,  get 
up  and  I'll  tell  you  more  while  you 
eat."  Mechanically  he  obeyed,  sit- 
ting with  his  glowing  eyes  fixed  upon 
my  face  the  while  I  told  him  of  old 
Jasper's  lapse  of  memory  and  present 
illness. 

"Then  'e  don't  remember  as  I'm  a 
thief  an'  convict  49,  master?" 

"No ;  he  thinks  and  speaks  of  you  al- 
ways as  a  boy  and  a  pattern  son." 

The  man  uttered  a  strange  cry,  and 
£>  203  <s 


r 


flinging  himself  upon  his  knees  buried 
his  face  in  his  hands. 

"Come,"  I  said,  tapping  him  on  the 
shoulder;  "take  off  those  things,"  and 
nodding  to  the  Imp,  he  immedi- 
ately began  unwrapping  Peter's  gar- 
ments. 

"What,  master,"  cried  the  convict, 
starting  up,  "are  you  goin'  to  let  me 
see  'im  afore  you  give  me  up?" 

"Yes,"  I  nodded;  "only  be  quick." 

In  less  than  five  minutes  the  tattered 
prison  dress  was  lying  in  the  bed  of 
the  river,  and  we  were  making  our 
way  along  the  path  towards  old  Jas- 
per's cottage. 

The  convict  spoke  but  once,  and 
that  as  we  reached  the  cottage  gate: 

"Is  he  very  ill,  sir?" 

"Very  ill,"  I  said.  He  stood  for  a 
moment,  inhaling  the  fragrance  of  the 
roses  in  great  breaths,  and  staring 
about  him;  then  with  an  abrupt  ges- 
ture he  opened  the  little  gate,  and 
o  204  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

gliding  up  the  path  with  his  furtive, 
stealthy  footstep  knocked  at  the  door. 

For  some  half  hour  the  Imp  and  I 
strolled  to  and  fro  in  the  moonlight, 
during  which  he  related  to  me  much 
about  his  outlaw  and  the  many  "ruses 
he  had  employed  to  get  him  provi- 
sion." How  upon  one  occasion,  to  es- 
cape the  watchful  eyes  of  Auntie  Lis- 
beth,  he  had  been  compelled  to  hide  a 
slice  of  jam-tart  in  the  trousers-pock- 
ets, to  the  detriment  of  each;  how  Dor- 
othy had  watched  him  everywhere  in 
the  momentary  expectation  of  "some- 
thing happening;"  how  Jane  and 
Peter  and  cook  would  stand  and  stare 
and  shake  their  heads  at  him  because 
he  ate  such  a  lot,  "an'  the  worst  of  it 
was  I  was  awfull'  hungry  all  the  time, 
you  know,  Uncle  Dick!"  This  and 
much  more  he  told  me  as  we  waited 
there  in  the  moonlight. 

At  last  the  cottage  door  opened  and 
the  convict  came  out.  He  did  not  join 
D  205  « 


^\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

us  at  once,  but  remained  staring  away 
towards  the  river,  though  I  saw  him 
jerk  his  sleeve  across  his  eyes  more 
than  once  in  his  furtive,  stealthy 
fashion;  but  when  at  last  he  came 
up  to  us  his  face  was  firm  and  reso- 
lute. 

"Did  you  see  old  Jasper?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,  sir;  I  saw  him." 

"Is  he  any  better?" 

"Much  better — he  died  in  my  arms, 
sir.  An'  now  I'm  ready  to  go  back, 
there's  a  police-station  in  the  village." 
He  stopped  suddenly  and  turned  to 
stare  back  at  the  lighted  windows  of 
the  cottage,  and  when  he  spoke  again 
his  voice  sounded  hoarser  than  ever. 

"Thought  I'd  come  back  from  fur- 
rin  parts,  'e  did,  wi'  my  pockets  stuffed 
full  o'  gold  an'  bank-notes.  Called 
me  'is  bye  Jarge,  'e  did !"  and  again  he 
brushed  his  cuff  across  his  eyes. 

"Master,  I  don't  know  who  ye  may 
be,  but  I'm  grateful  to  ye  an'  more 
E>  206  o 


\TflJ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

than  grateful,  sir.  An'  now  I'm  ready 
to  go  back  an'  finish  my  time." 

"How  much  longer  is  that?" 

"Three  years,  sir." 

"And  when  you  come  out,  what 
shall  you  do  then?" 

"Start  all  over  again,  sir;  try  to  get 
some  honest  work  an'  live  straight." 

"Do  you  think  you  can  ?" 

"I  know  I  can,  sir.  Ye  see,  he  died 
in  my  arms,  called  me  'is  bye  Jarge, 
said  'e  were  proud  of  me,  'e  did!  A 
man  can  begin  again  an'  live  straight 
an'  square  wi'  a  memory  the  like  o' 
that  to  'elp  'im." 

"Then  why  not  begin  to-night?" 

He  passed  a  tremulous  hand  through 
his  silver  hair,  and  stared  at  me  with 
incredulous  eyes. 

"Begin — to-night!"  he  half  whis- 
pered. 

"I  have  an  old  house  among  the 
Kentish  hop-gardens,"  I  went  on; 
"no  one  lives  there  at  present  except 
E>  207  <j 


^x;"¥^  QT^          -  il  ^^JP 

^\vi      •^^_?^ss}      \ ~\^\  it ^ y *' ' 

^^ff^j  v  i   *d/'^ 

^  ^^^^"^     S^;:  ^     (T  "N^ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

a  care-taker,  but  it  is  within  the  bounds 
of  probability  that  I  may  go  to  stay 
there — some  day.  Now  the  gardens 
need  trimming,  and  I'm  very  fond  of 
flowers;  do  you  suppose  you  could 
make  the  place  look  decent  in — say, 
a  month?" 

"Sir,"  he  said  in  a  strange,  broken 
voice,  "you  ain't  jokin'  with  me,  are 
you?" 

"I  could  pay  you  a  pound  a  week; 
what  do  you  say?" 

He  tried  to  speak,  but  his  lips  quiv- 
ered, and  he  turned  his  back  upon  us 
very  suddenly.  I  tore  a  page  from 
my  pocket-book  and  scrawled  a  hasty 
note  to  my  care-taker. 

"Here  is  the  address,"  I  said,  tap- 
ping him  on  the  shoulder.  "You  will 
find  no  difficulty.  I  will  write  again 
to-night.  You  must  of  course  have 
money  to  get  there  and  may  need  to 
buy  a  few  necessaries  besides;  here  is 
your  first  week's  wages  in  advance," 
s>  208  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

and  I  thrust  a  sovereign  into  his  hand. 
He  stared  down  at  it  with  blinking 
eyes,  shuffling  awkwardly  with  his  feet, 
and  at  that  moment  his  face  seemed 
very  worn,  and  lined,  and  his  hair 
very  grey,  yet  I  had  a  feeling  that  I 
should  not  regret  my  quixotic  action 
in  the  end. 

"Sir,"     he     faltered,     "sir,     do    ye 
mean — ?"  and  stopped. 

"I  mean  that  to-night  'the  bye  Jarge' 
has  a  chance  to  make  a  new  beginning, 
a  chance  to  become  the  man  his  father 
always  thought  he  would  be.  Of 
course  I  may  be  a  fool  to  trust  you. 
That  only  time  will  show ;  but  you  see 
I  had  a  great  respect  for  old  Jasper. 
And  now  that  you  have  the  address 
you'd  better  go;  stay,  though,  you 
must  have  a  hat;  folks  might  wonder 
— take  this,"  and  I  handed  him  my 
cap. 

"Sir,  I  can't  thank  ye  now,  I  never 
can.       It — it    won't    come;    but — " 
£>  209  <j 


oOo 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

with  a  nervous,  awkward  gesture  he 
caught  my  hand  suddenly,  pressed  it 
to  his  lips,  and  was  gone  down  the 
lane. 

Thus  it  was  that  old  Jasper's  "bye 
Jarge"  went  out  to  make  a  trial  of  life 
a  second  time,  and  as  I  watched  him 
striding  through  the  moonlight,  his 
head  erect,  very  different  to  the  sham- 
bling creature  he  had  been,  it  seemed 
to  me  that  the  felon  was  already 
ousted  by  the  man. 

"I  'specks  he  forgot  all  'bout  me!" 
said  the  Imp  disconsolately. 

"No,"  I  answered,  shaking  my  head; 
"I  don't  think  he  will  ever  forget  you, 
my  Imp." 

"I  'spose  he's  awfull'  fond  of  you, 
Uncle  Dick?"  . 

"Not  that  I  know  of." 

"Then  why  did  he  kiss  your  hand?" 

"Oh,  well  —  er  —  perhaps  it  is  a  way 
he  has." 

"He  didn't  kiss  mine,"  said  the  Imp. 

£>   2IO   <3 


'*    '• 


OJO 


tU)  V 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

A  door  opened  and  closed  very  soft- 
ly, and  Lisbeth  came  towards  us  down 
the  path,  whereupon  the  Imp  imme- 
diately "took  cover"  in  the  ditch. 

"He  is  dead,  Dick!"  she  said  as  I 
opened  the  gate.  "He  died  in  his  son's 
arms — the  George  he  was  always  talk- 
ing about.  And  oh,  Dick,  he  died 
trying  to  sing  'The  British  Grena- 
diers.' " 

"Poor  old  Jasper!"  I  said. 

"His  son  was  a  convict  once,  wasn't 
he?" 

"Yes." 

"It  was  strange  that  he  should  come 
back  as  he  did — just  in  time;  it  al- 
most seems  like  the  hand  of  Provi- 
dence, doesn't  it,  Dick?" 

"Yes."  Lisbeth  was  standing  with 
her  elbows  upon  the  gate  and  her  chin 
in  her  hands,  staring  up  at  the  moon, 
and  I  saw  that  her  eyes  were  wet  with 
tears. 

"Why,  where  is  your  cap?"  she  ex- 

£>    211    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

claimed  when  at  last  she  condescended 
to  look  at  me. 

"On  the  head  of  an  escaped  convict," 
I  answered. 

"Do  you  mean " 

"The  'bye  Jarge,'  "  I  nodded. 

"Oh,  Dick!" 

"Yes,  Lisbeth;  it  was  a  ridiculous 
piece  of  sentiment  I  admit.  Your  law- 
abiding,  level-headed  citizen  would 
doubtless  be  highly  shocked,  not  to  say 
scandalised;  likewise  the  Law  might 
get  up  on  its  hind  legs  and  kick — 
quite  unpleasantly;  but  all  the  same,  I 
did  it." 

"You  were  never  what  one  might 
call — very  'level-headed,'  were  you, 
Dick?" 

"No,  I'm  afraid  not." 

"And,  do  you  know,  I  think  that  is 
the  very  reason  why  I — good  gra- 
cious!— what  is  that?"  She  pointed 
toward  the  shadow  of  the  hedge. 

"Merely   the     Imp,"    I     answered; 

E>    212    <3 


HEW. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"but  never  mind  that — tell  me  what 
you  were  going  to  say — 'the  very 
reason  why  you' — what?" 

"Reginald!"  said  Lisbeth,  unheeding 
my  question,  "come  here,  sir!"  Very 
sheepishly  the  Imp  crept  forth  from 
the  ditch,  and  coming  up  beside  me, 
stole  his  hand  into  mine,  and  I  put  it 
in  my  pocket. 

"Reginald,"  she  repeated,  looking 
from  one  to  the  other  of  us  with  that 
expression  which  always  renews  within 
me  the  memory  of  my  boyish  mis- 
deeds, "why  are  you  not  asleep  in 
bed?" 

"  'Cause  I  had  to  go  an'  feed  my 
outlaw,  Auntie  Lisbeth." 

"And,"  I  put  in  to  create  a  diversion, 
"incidentally  I've  discovered  the  se- 
cret of  his  'enormous  appetite.'  It  is 
explained  in  three  words,  to  wit,  'the 
bye  Jarge.'  " 

"Do  you  mean  to  say — "  began 
Lisbeth. 

E>  213  <j 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Fed  him  regularly  twice  a  day,"  I 
went  on,  "and  nearly  famished  him- 
self in  the  doing  of  it — you  remember 
the  dry-bread  incident?" 

"Imp!"  cried  Lisbeth;  "Imp!"  And 

she  had  him  next  moment  in  her  arms. 

m 

"But  Uncle  Dick  gave  him  a  whole 
sovereign,  you  know,"  he  began; 


"I  sent  him  to  a  certain  house,  Lis- 
beth," I  said,  as  her  eyes  met  mine; 
"an  old  house  that  stands  not  far  from 
the  village  of  Down,  in  Kent,  to 
prune  the  roses  and  things.  I  should 
like  it  to  be  looking  its  best  when  we 
get  there;  and " 

"An'  my  outlaw  kissed  Uncle  Dick's 
hand,"  pursued  the  Imp.  "Don't  you 
think  he  must  love  him  an  awful  lot?" 

"I  gave  him  a  month  to  do  it  in,"  I 
went  on;  "but  a  month  seems  much 
too  long  when  one  comes  to  consider — 
what  do  you  think,  Lisbeth?" 

"I  think  that  I  hear  the  wheels  of 
D>  214  <s 

C1"  0?  WV7 

:   •      f/        ?-.-  , 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

the  dog-cart!"  she  cried.  Sure  enough, 
a  moment  later  Peter  hove  in  view, 
and  great  was  his  astonishment  at 
sight  of  "Master  Reginald." 

"Peter,"  I  said,  "Miss  Elizabeth  has 
changed  her  mind,  and  will  walk  back 
with  us;  and — er — by  the  way,  I  un- 
derstand that  Master  Reginald  pur- 
chased a  coat,  a  shirt,  and  a  pair  of 
trousers  of  you,  for  which  he  has  al- 
ready paid  a  deposit  of  sixpence. 
Now,  if  you  will  let  me  know  their 
value " 

"That's  hall  right,  Mr.  Brent,  sir. 
Betwixt  you  and  me,  sir,  they  wasn't 
up  to  much,  nohow,  the  coat  being 
tightish,  sir  —  tightish  —  and  the 
trousis  uncommon  short  in  the  leg  for 
a  man  o'  my  hinches,  sir." 

"Nevertheless,"  said  I,  "a  coat's  a 
coat,  and  a  pair  of  trousers  are  indu- 
bitably a  pair  of  trousers,  and  nothing 
can  alter  the  fact;  so  if  you  will  send 
me  in  a  bill  some  time  I  shall  be  glad," 
£>  215  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Very  good,  Mr.  Brent,  sir."  Say- 
ing which  Peter  touched  his  hat  and 
turning,  drove  away. 

"Now,"  I  said  as  I  rejoined  Lisbeth 
and  the  Imp,  "I  shall  be  glad  if  you 
will  tell  me  how  long  it  should  take 
for  my  garden  to  look  fair  enough  to 
welcome  you?" 

"Oh,  well,  it  depends  upon  the  gar- 
dener, and  the  weather,  and — and 
heaps  of  things,"  she  answered,  flash- 
ing her  dimple  at  me. 

"On  the  contrary,"  I  retorted,  shak- 
ing my  head,  "it  depends  altogether 
upon  the  whim  of  the  most  beautiful, 
tempting " 

"Supposing,"  sighed  Lisbeth,  "sup- 
posing we  talk  of  fish !" 

"You  haven't  been  fishing  lately, 
Uncle  Dick,"  put  in  the  Imp. 

"I've  had  no  cause  to,"  I  answered; 
"you  see,  I  am  guilty  of  such  things 
only  when  life  assumes  a  grey  monot- 
ony of  hue  and  everything  is  a  flat, 

t>   2l6  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

dreary    desolation.      Do   you    under- 
stand, Imp?" 

"Not  'zackly — but  it  sounds  fine! 
Auntie  Lisbeth,"  he  said  suddenly, 
as  we  paused  at  the  Shrubbery  gate, 
"don't  you  think  my  outlaw  must  be 
very,  very  fond  of  Uncle  Dick  to  kiss 
his  hand?" 

"Why,  of  course  he  must,"  nodded 
Lisbeth. 

"If,"  he  went  on  thoughtfully,  "if  you 
loved  somebody — very  much — would 
you  kiss  their  hand,  Auntie  Lisbeth?" 

"I  don't  know — of  course  not!" 

"But  why  not — s'posing  their  hand 
was  nice  an'  clean?" 

"Oh,  well — really  I  don't  know. 
Imp,  run  along  to  bed;  do." 

"You  know  now  that  I  wasn't  such 
a  pig  as  to  eat  all  that  food,  don't 
you?"  Lisbeth  kissed  him. 

"Now  be  off  to  bed  with  you." 

"You'll  come  an'  tuck  me  up,   an' 
kiss  me  good-night,  won't  you?" 
E>  217  o 


Jv  n 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"To  be  sure  I  will,"  nodded  Lisbeth. 

"Why,  then,  Til  go,"  said  the  Imp; 
and  with  a  wave  of  the  hand  to  me  he 
went. 

"Dick,"  said  Lisbeth,  staring  up  at 
the  moon,  "it  was  very  unwise  of  you, 
to  say  the  least  of  it,  to  set  a  desperate 
criminal  at  large." 

"I'm  afraid  it  was,  Lisbeth;  but 
then  I  saw  there  was  good  in  the  fel- 
low, you  know,  and — er " 

"Dick,"  she  said  again,  and  then 
laughed  suddenly,  with  the  dimple  in 
full  evidence; "you  foolish  old  Dick — 
you  know  you  would  have  done  it  any- 
way for  the  sake  of  that  dying  old  sol- 
dier." 

"Poor  old  Jasper!"  I  said;  "I'm 
really  afraid  I  should."  Then  a  won- 
derful thing  happened;  for  as  I 
reached  out  my  hand  to  her,  she 
caught  it  suddenly  in  hers,  and  before 
I  knew  had  pressed  her  lips  upon  it — 
and  so  was  gone. 

t>  218  <3 


J£*  ^^^ff^^^m^^^l 

|Cj}<  •'((  ^£^4 

ji  /> 

^  \  •* 

VII 

THE   BLASTED  OAK 

I  HAD  quarrelled  with  Lisbeth;  had 
quarrelled  beyond  all  hope  of  redemp- 
tion and  forgiveness,  desperately, 
irrevocably,  and  it  had  all  come  about 
through  a  handkerchief — Mr.  Sel- 
wyn's  handkerchief. 

At  a  casual  glance  this  may  appear 
all  very  absurd,  not  to  say  petty;  but 
then  I  have  frequently  noticed  that  in- 
significant things  very  often  serve  for 
the  foundation  of  great;  and  incident- 
ally quite  a  surprising  number  of  lives 
have  been  ruined  by  a  handkerchief. 

The  circumstances  were  briefly  these : 
In  the  first  place,  I  had  received  the 
following  letter  from  the  Duchess, 
which  had  perturbed  me  not  a  little : 

MY  DEAR  DICK:  I  hear  that  that 

D    219    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Agatha  Warburton  creature  has  writ- 
ten threatening  to  cut  off  our  dear 
Lisbeth  with  the  proverbial  shilling 
unless  she  complies  with  her  wish  and 
marries  Mr.  Selwyn  within  the  year. 
Did  you  ever  know  of  anything  so  dis- 
gusting? 

If  I  were  Lisbeth,  and  possessed  such 
a  "creature"  for  an  aunt,  I'd  see  her  in 
Timbuctoo  first — I  would !  But  then, 
I  forget  the  poor  child  has  nothing  in 
the  world,  and  you  little  more,  and 
"love  in  a  cottage"  is  all  very  well, 
Dick,  up  to  a  certain  time.  Of  course, 
it  is  all  right  in  novels,  but  you  are 
neither  of  you  in  a  novel,  and  that  is 
the  worst  of  it.  If  Providence  had 
seen  fit  to  make  me  Lisbeth's  aunt, 
now,  things  might  have  been  very  dif- 
ferent ;  but  alas !  it  was  not  to  be.  Un- 
der the  circumstances,  the  best  thing 
you  can  do,  for  her  sake  and  your 
own,  is  to  turn  your  back  upon 
Arcadia  and  try  to  forget  it  all  as 
soon  as  possible  in  the  swirl  of  London 
and  every-day  life. 

Yours, 

CHARLOTTE  C. 

D    220   <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

P.S.  Of  course,  "Romance  is  dead 
ages  and  ages  ago;  still,  it  really 
would  be  nice  if  you  could  manage  to 
run  off  with  her  some  fine  night  1 

Thus  the  fiat  had  gone  forth,  the 
time  of  waiting  was  accomplished;  to- 
day Lisbeth  must  choose  between  Sel- 
wyn  and  myself. 

This  thought  was  in  my  mind  as  I 
strode  along  the  river  path,  filling  me 
with  that  strange  exhilaration  which 
comes,  I  suppose,  to  most  of  us  when 
we  face  some  climax  in  our  lives. 

But  now  the  great  question,  How 
would  she  decide?  leaped  up  and  be- 
gan to  haunt  me.  Because  a  woman 
smiles  upon  a  man,  he  is  surely  a  most 
prodigious  fool  to  flatter  himself  that 
she  loves  him,  therefore.  How  would 
she  decide?  Nay,  indeed;  what  choice 
had  she  between  affluence  and  penury? 
Selwyn  was  wealthy  and  favoured  by 
her  aunt,  Lady  Warburton,  while  as 
for  me,  my  case  was  altogether  the  re- 

D    221    <3 

(F%^/y%^    if^j^M 

i^T^v  x  ^^^vSLpNx^CSC 


&. 

^.  fM 


' 

MK  L^Dy  CAPRICE 

.••*O?VB  *;Q^'**. 

verse.  And  now  I  called  to  mind  how 
Lisbeth  had  always  avoided  coming 
to  any  understanding  with  me,  putting 
me  off  on  one  pretence  or  another,  but 
always  with  infinite  tact.  So  Fear 
came  to  me,  and  Doubt  began  to  rear 
its  head;  my  step  grew  slower  and 
slower,  till,  reaching  the  Shrubbery 
gate,  I  leaned  there  in  doubt  whether 
to  proceed  or  not.  Summoning  up  my 
resolution,  however,  I  went  on,  turn- 
ing in  the  direction  of  the  orchard, 
where  I  knew  she  often  sat  of  a  morn- 
ing to  read  or  make  a  pretence  of  sew- 
ing. 

I  had  gone  but  a  little  way  when  I 
caught  sight  of  two  distant  figures 
walking  slowly  across  the  lawn,  and 
recognised  Lisbeth  and  Mr.  Selwyn. 

The  sight  of  him  here  and  at  such  a 

*-* 

time  was  decidedly  unpleasant,  and  I 
hurried    on,  wondering    what    could 
have  brought  him  so  early. 
Beneath  Lisbeth's  favourite  tree,  an 

£>  222    <3 


.^gfcJ/M.V:^XAS^^f 

-^^&$mS^^/T&3ffi  x. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

ancient  apple-tree  so  gnarled  and  rug- 
ged that  it  seemed  to  have  spent  all  its 
days  tying  itself  into  all  manner  of 
impossible  knots — in  the  shade  of  this 
tree,  I  say,  there  was  a  rustic  seat  and 
table,  upon  which  was  a  work-basket, 
a  book,  and  a  handkerchief.  It  was  a 
large,  decidedly  masculine  handker- 
chief, and  as  my  eyes  encountered  it, 
by  some  unfortunate  chance  I  noticed 
a  monogram  embroidered  in  one  cor- 
ner— an  extremely  neat,  precise  mono- 
gram, with  the  letters  F.  S.  I  recog- 
nised it  at  once  as  the  property  of  Mr. 
Selwyn. 

Ordinarily  I  should  have  thought 
nothing  of  it,  but  to-day  it  was  differ- 
ent; for  there  are  times  in  one's  life 
when  the  most  foolish  things  become 
pregnant  of  infinite  possibilities;  when 
the  veriest  trifles  assume  overwhelm- 
ing proportions,  filling  and  blotting 
out  the  universe. 

So  it  was  now,  and  as  I  stared  down 
D  223  « 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

at  the  handkerchief,  the  Doubt  within 
me  grew  suddenly  into  Certainty. 

I  was  pacing  restlessly  up  and  down 
when  I  saw  Lisbeth  approaching;  her 
cheeks  seemed  more  flushed  than  usual, 
and  her  hand  trembled  as  she  gave  it 
to  me. 

"Why,  whatever  is  the  matter  with 
you?"  she  said;  "you  look  so — so 
strange,  Dick." 

"I  received  a  letter  from  the  Duchess 
this  morning." 

"Did  you?" 

"Yes;  in  which  she  tells  me  your 
aunt  has  threatened  to " 

"Cut  me  off  with  a  shilling,"  nodded 
Lisbeth,  crossing  over  to  the  table. 

"Yes,"  I  said  again. 

"Well?" 

"Well?" 

"Oh,  for  goodness'  sake,  Dick,  stop 
tramping  up  and  down  like  a — a  caged 
bear,  and  sit  down — do !" 

I  obeyed;  yet  as  I  did  so  I  saw  her 
£>  224  o 
' 


«sV 


-~o> 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

with  the  tail  of  my  eye  whip  up  the 
handkerchief  and  tuck  it  beneath  the 
laces  at  her  bosom. 

"Lisbeth,"  said  I,  without  turning 
my  head,  "why  hide  it  —  there?" 

Her  face  flushed  painfully,  her  lips 
quivered,  and  for  a  moment  she  could 
find  no  answer;  then  she  tried  to  laugh 
it  off. 

"Because  I  —  I  wanted  to,  I  sup- 
pose!" 

"Obviously!"  I  retorted;  and  rising, 
bowed  and  turned  to  go. 

"Stay  a  moment,  Dick.  I  have  some- 
thing to  tell  you." 

"Thank  you,  but  I  think  I  can 
guess." 

"Can  you?" 

"Oh,  yes." 

"Aren't  you  just  a  little  bit  theatri- 
cal, Dick?"  Now,  as  she  spoke  she 
drew  out  Selwyn's  handkerchief  and 
began  to  tie  and  untie  knots  in  it. 

"Dick,"  she  went  on  —  and  now  she 
j>  225  <j 


MW"\    y-'%iBK^SKJ         ~"\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

was  tracing  out  Selwyn's  monogram 
with  her  finger  —  "you  tell  me  you 
know  that  Aunt  Agatha  has  threat- 
ened to  disinherit  me;  can  you  realise 
what  that  would  mean  to  me,  I  won- 
der?" 

"Only  in  some  small  part,"  I  an- 
swered bitterly;  "but  it  would  be  aw- 
ful for  you,  of  course  —  good-bye  to 
society  and  all  the  rest  of  it  —  no  more 
ball  gowns  or  hats  and  things  from 
Paris,  and  -  " 

"And  bearing  all  this  in  mind,"  she 
put  in,  "and  knowing  me  as  you  do, 
perhaps  you  can  make  another  guess 
and  tell  me  what  I  am  likely  to  do 
under  these  circumstances?" 

Now,  had  I  been  anything  but  a  pre- 
posterous ass,  my  answer  would  have 
been  different;  but  then  I  was  not  my- 
self, and  I  could  not  help  noticing  how 
tenderly  her  finger  traced  out  those 
two  letters  F.  S.,  so  I  laughed  rather 
brutally  and  answered: 
£>  226  <J 


\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Follow  the  instinct  of  your  sex  and 
stick  to  the  Paris  hats  and  things." 

I  heard  her  breath  catch,  and  turning 
away,  she  began  to  flutter  the  pages 
of  the  book  upon  the  table. 

"And  you  were  always  so  clever  at 
guessing,  weren't  you?"  she  said  after 
a  moment,  keeping  her  face  averted. 

"At  least  it  has  saved  your  explain- 
ing the  situation,  and  you  should  be 
thankful  for  that." 

The  book  slipped  suddenly  to  the 
ground  and  lay,  all  unheeded,  and  she 
began  to  laugh  in  a  strange,  high  key. 
Wondering,  I  took  a  step  toward  her; 
but  as  I  did  so  she  fled  from  me,  run- 
ning toward  the  house,  never  stopping 
or  slackening  speed,  until  I  had  lost 
sight  of  her  altogether. 

Thus  the  whole  miserable  business 
had  befallen,  dazing  me  by  its  very 
suddenness  like  a  "bolt  from  the  blue." 
I  had  returned  to  the  'Three  Jolly 
Anglers,'  determined  to  follow  the  ad- 
D  227  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

vice  of  the  Duchess  and  return  to  Lon- 
don by  the  next  train.  Yet,  after  pass- 
ing a  sleepless  night,  here  I  was  sit- 
ting in  my  old  place  beneath  the  alders 
pretending  to  fish. 

The  river  was  laughing  among  the 
reeds  just  as  merrily  as  ever,  bees 
hummed  and  butterflies  wheeled  and 
hovered — life  and  the  world  were  very 
fair.  Yet  for  once  I  was  blind  to  it 
all;  moreover,  my  pipe  refused  to 
"draw" — pieces  of  grass,  twigs,  and 
my  penknife  were  alike  unavailing. 

So  I  sat  there,  brooding  upon  the 
fickleness  of  womankind,  as  many  an- 
other has  done  before  me,  and  many 
will  doubtless  do  after,  alack! 

And  the  sum  of  my  thoughts  was 
this:  Lisbeth  had  deceived  me;  the 
hour  of  trial  had  found  her  weak;  my 
idol  was  only  common  clay,  after  all. 
And  yet  she  had  but  preferred  wealth 
to  comparative  poverty,  which  surely, 
according  to  all  the  rules  of  common 
£>  228  <3 

Ti    /**!_  <f 


w. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

sense,  had  shown  her  possessed  of  a 
wisdom  beyond  her  years.  And  who 
was  I  to  sit  and  grieve  over  it?  Un- 
der the  same  circumstances  ninety-nine 
women  out  of  a  hundred  would  have 
chosen  precisely  the  same  course;  but 
then  to  me  Lisbeth  had  always  seemed 
the  one  exempt — the  hundredth  wom- 
an; moreover,  there  be  times  when 
love,  unreasoning  and  illogical,  is  in- 
finitely more  beautiful  than  this  much- 
vaunted  common  sense. 

This  and  much  more  was  in  my  mind 
as  I  sat  fumbling  with  my  useless  pipe 
and  staring  with  unseeing  eyes  at  the 
flow  of  the  river.  My  thoughts,  how- 
ever, were  presently  interrupted  by 
something  soft  rubbing  against  me, 
and  looking  down,  I  beheld  Dorothy's 
fluffy  kitten  Louise.  Upon  my  at- 
tempting to  pick  her  up,  she  bounded 
from  me  in  that  remarkable  sideways 
fashion  peculiar  to  her  kind,  and  stood 
regarding  me  from  a  distance,  her  tail 

£>    229   <3 


Do, 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
/    °v^ 

straight  up  in  the  air  and  her  mouth 

opening  and  shutting  without  a  sound. 
At  length,  having  given  vent  to  a  very 
feeble  attempt  at  a  mew,  she  zig- 
zagged to  me,  and  climbing  upon  my 
knee,  immediately  fell  into  a  purring 
slumber. 

"Hallo,  Uncle  Dick!  —  I  mean,  what 
ho,  Little  John  !"  cried  a  voice,  and 
looking  over  my  shoulder,  carefully 
so  as  not  to  disturb  the  balance  of 
"Louise,"  I  beheld  the  Imp.  It 
needed  but  a  glance  at  the  bow  in 
his  hand,  the  three  arrows  in  his  belt, 
and  the  feather  in  his  cap,  to  tell 
me  who  he  was  for  the  time 
being. 

"How  now,  Robin?"  I  inquired. 

"I'm  a  bitter,  disappointed  man, 
Uncle  Dick!"  he  answered,  putting  up 
a  hand  to  feel  if  his  feather  was  in 
place. 

J       "Are  you?" 
"Yes;  the  book  says  that  Robin  Hood 

?  £>   20   <3 


:J\Jt 


•""V        \M 

V\      <f 


LADY  CAPRICE 

was  'bitter  an'  disappointed,'  an'  so 
ami!" 

"Why,  how's  that?" 

The  Imp  folded  his  arms  and  re- 
garded me  with  a  terrific  frown. 

"It's  all  the  fault  of  my  Auntie  Lis- 
beth !"  he  said  in  a  tragic  voice. 

"Sit  down,  my  Imp,  and  tell  me  all 
about  it." 

"Well,"  he  began,  laying  aside  his 
'trusty  sword,'  and  seating  himself  at 
my  elbow,  "she  got  awfull'  angry  with 
me  yesterday,  awfull'  angry,  indeed, 
an'  she  wouldn't  play  with  me  or  any- 
thing; an'  when  I  tried  to  be  friends 
with  her  an'  asked  her  to  pretend  she 
was  a  hippopotamus,  'cause  I  was  a 
mighty  hunter,  you  know,  she  just 
said,  'Reginald,  go  away  an'  don't 
bother  me !'  " 

"You  surprise  me,  Imp!" 

"But  that's  not  the  worst  of  it,"  he 
continued,  shaking  his  head  gloomily; 
"she  didn't  come  to  'tuck  me  up'  an' 
£>  231  o 


<C 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
, 
kiss   me   good-night   like   she   always 

does.  I  lay  awake  hours  an'  hours 
waiting  for  her,  you  know;  but  she 
never  came,  an'  so  I've  left  herl" 

"Left  her!"  I  repeated. 

"For  ever  an'  ever!"  he  said,  nod- 
ding a  stern  brow.  "I  'specks  she'll 
be  awfull'  sorry  some  day!" 

"But  where  shall  you  go  to?" 

"I'm  thinking  of  Persia!"  he  said 
darkly. 

"Oh!" 

"It's  nice  an'  far,  you  know,  an'  I 
might  meet  Aladdin  with  the  wonder- 
ful  lamp." 

"Alas,  Imp,  I  fear  not,"  I  answered, 
shaking  my  head;  "and  besides,  it  will 
take  a  long,  long  time  to  get  there,  and 
where  shall  you  sleep  at  night?" 

The  Imp  frowned  harder  than  ever, 
staring  straight  before  him  as  one  who 
wrestles  with  some  mighty  problem, 
then  his  brow  cleared  and  he  spoke  in 
this  wise: 

E 

^ 


t\ 


^**nr        f  il 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Henceforth,  Uncle  Dick,  my  roof 
shall  be  the  broad  expanse  of  heaven, 
an'  —  an'  —  wait  a  minute!"  he  broke 
off,  and  lugging  something  from  his 
pocket,  disclosed  a  tattered,  paper- 
covered  volume  (the  Imp's  books  are 
always  tattered),  and  hastily  turning 
the  pages,  paused  at  a  certain  para- 
graph and  read  as  follows: 

"  'Henceforth  my  roof  shall  be  the 
broad  expanse  of  heaven,  an'  all 
tyrants  shall  learn  to  tremble  at  my 
name  !'  Doesn't  that  sound  fine, 
Uncle  Dick?  I  tried  to  get  Ben  — 
you  know,  the  gardener's  boy  —  to 
come  an'  live  in  the  'greenwood'  with 
me  a  bit  an'  help  to  make  'tyrants' 
tremble,  but  he  said  he  was  'fraid  his 
mother  might  find  him  some  day,  an' 
he  wouldn't,  so  I'm  going  to  make 
them  tremble  all  by  myself,  unless  you 
will  come  an'  be  Little  John,  like  you 
were  once  before  —  oh,  do!" 

Before  I  could  answer,  hearing  foot- 
g>  233  o 


y  - 


LADY  CAPRICE 

steps,  I  looked  round,  and  my  heart 
leaped,  for  there  was  Lisbeth  coming 
down  the  path. 

Her  head  was  drooping  and  she 
walked  with  a  listless  air.  Now,  as  I 
watched  I  forgot  everything  but  that 
she  looked  sad,  and  troubled,  and 
more  beautiful  than  ever,  and  that  I 
loved  her.  Instinctively  I  rose,  lifting 
my  cap.  She  started,  and  for  the  frac- 
tion of  a  second  her  eyes  looked  into 
mine,  then  she  passed  serenely  on  her 
way.  I  might  have  been  a  stick  or 
stone  for  all  the  further  notice  she 
bestowed. 

Side  by  side,  the  Imp  and  I  watched 
her  go,  until  the  last  gleam  of  her 
white  skirt  had  vanished  amid  the 
green.  Then  he  folded  his  arms  and 
turned  to  me. 

"So  be  it!"  he  said,  with  an  air  of 
stern  finality;  "an*  now,  what  is  a 
'blasted  oak,'  please?" 

"A  blasted  oak  !"  I  repeated. 

r 


7  « 

,tf  y^^3KV  J^r5  l.V  J";,,       .•'     \ 


\/ 


>  VV*       On 

^ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"If  you  please,  Uncle  Dick." 

"Well,  it's  an  oak-tree  that  has  been 
struck  by  lightning." 

"Like  the  one  with  the  'stickie-out' 
branches,  where  I  once  hid  Auntie 
Lis — Her  stockings?" 

I  nodded,  and  sitting  down,  began  to 
pack  up  my  fishing  rod  and  things. 

"I'm  glad  of  that,"  pursued  the  Imp 
thoughtfully.  "Robin  Hood  was  al- 
ways saying  to  somebody,  'Hie  thee  to 
the  blasted  oak  at  midnight!'  an'  it's 
nice  to  have  one  handy,  you  know." 

I  thought  that  under  certain  circum- 
stances, and  with  a  piece  of  rope,  it 
would  be  very  much  so,  "blasted"  or 
otherwise,  but  I  only  said,  "Yes"  and 
sighed. 

"  'Whence  that  doleful  visage,'  Uncle 
Dick — I  mean  Little  John  ?  Is  Auntie 
angry  with  you,  too?" 

"Yes,"  I  answered,  and  sighed  again. 

"Oh!"  said  the  Imp,  staring,  "an'  do 
you  feel  like — like — wait  a  minute" — 

£> 


4 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

and  once  more  he  drew  out  and  con- 
sulted the  tattered  volume — "  'do  you 
feel  like  hanging  yourself  in  your 
sword-belt  to  the  arm  of  yonder 
tree?'  "  he  asked  eagerly,  with  his 
finger  upon  a  certain  paragraph. 

"Very  like  it,  my  Imp." 

"Or — or  'hurling  yourself  from 
the  topmost  pinnacle  of  yon  lofty 
crag?'" 

"Yes,  Imp ;  the  'loftier'  the  better  1" 

"Then  you  must  be  in  love,  like 
Alan-a-Dale;  he  was  going  to  hang 
himself,  an'  'hurl  himself  off  the  top- 
most pinnacle,'  you  know,  only  Robin 
Hood  said,  'Whence  that  doleful 
visage,'  an'  stopped  him — you  remem- 
ber?" 

"To  be  sure,"  I  nodded. 

"An'  so  you  are  really  in  love  with 
my  Auntie  Lis — Her,  are  you?" 

"Yes." 

"Is  that  why  she's  angry  with  you?" 

"Probably." 

£>    236   <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

The  Imp  was  silent,  apparently 
plunged  once  more  in  a  profound  med- 
itation. 

'"Fraid  there's  something  wrong 
with  her,"  he  said  at  last,  shaking  his 
head;  "she's  always  getting  angry 
with  everybody  'bout  something — you 
an'  me  an'  Mr.  Selwyn " 

"Mr.  Selwyn !"  I  exclaimed.  "Imp, 
what  do  you  mean?" 

"Well,  she  got  cross  with  me  first — 
an'  over  such  a  little  thing,  too!  We 
were  in  the  orchard,  an'  I  spilt  some 
lemonade  on  her  gown — only  about 
half  a  glass,  you  know,  an'  when  she 
went  to  wipe  it  off  she  hadn't  a  hand- 
kerchief, an'  'course  I  had  none.  So 
she  told  me  to  fetch  one,  an'  I  was  just 
going  when  Mr.  Selwyn  came,  so  I 
said,  'Would  he  lend  Auntie  Lisbeth 
his  handkerchief,  'cause  she  wanted 
one  to  wipe  her  dress?'  an'  he  said, 
'Delighted !'  Then  auntie  frowned  at 
me  an'  shook  her  head  when  he  wasn't 
D  237  <3 


, 


A 

CAPRICE 

looking.  But  Mr.  Selwyn  took  out  his 
handkerchief,  an'  got  down  on  his 
knees,  an'  began  to  wipe  off  the  lemon- 
ade, telling  her  something  'bout  his 
'heart,'  an'  wishing  he  could  'kneel  at 

her  feet  forever!'   Auntie  got  awfull' 

° 

red,  an'  told  him  to  stand  up,  but  he 
wouldn't;  an'  then  she  looked  at  me 
so  awfull'  cross  that  I  thought  I'd  bet- 
ter leave,  so  while  she  was  saying, 
'Rise,  Mr.  Selwyn — do!'  I  ran  away, 
only  I  could  tell  she  was  awfull' 
angry  with  Mr.  Selwyn — an'  that's 
all!" 

I  rose  to  my  knees  and  caught  the 
Imp  by  the  shoulders. 

"Imp,"  I  cried,  '''are  you  sure — quite 

sure  that  she  was  angry  with  Mr.  Sel- 

i  .      -.,, 

wyn  yesterday  morning  r 

'"Course  I  am.  I  always  know  when 
Auntie  Lisbeth's  angry.  An'  now  let's 
go  an'  play  at  'Blasted  Oaks.'  " 

"Anything  you  like,  Imp,  so  long  as 
we  find  her." 

£>  238  <3 


7r 


f\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 
"You're  forgetting  your  fishing  rod 


an' " 

"Fishing  rod  be — blowed!"  I  ex- 
claimed, and  set  off  hurriedly  in  the 
direction  Lisbeth  had  taken. 

The  Imp  trotted  beside  me,  stum- 
bling frequently  over  his  "trusty 
sword"  and  issuing  numberless  com- 
mands in  a  hoarse,  fierce  voice  to  an 
imaginary  "band  of  outlaws."  As  for 
me,  I  strode  on  unheeding,  for  my 
mind  was  filled  with  a  fast-growing 
suspicion  that  I  had  judged  Lisbeth 
like  a  hasty  fool. 

In  this  manner  we  scoured  the  neigh- 
bourhood very  thoroughly,  but  with 
no  success.  However,  we  continued 
our  search  with  unabated  ardour — 
along  the  river  path  to  the  water  stairs 
and  from  thence  by  way  of  the  gar- 
dens to  the  orchard ;  but  not  a  sign  of 
Lisbeth.  The  shrubbery  and  paddock 
yielded  a  like  result,  and  having  inter- 
rogated Peter  in  the  harness-room,  he 
s>  239  <3 


r 


}  'N. 

. 

MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

informed  us  that  "Miss  Helezabeth 
was  hout  along  with  Miss  Dorothy." 

At  last,  after  more  than  an  hour  of 
this  sort  of  thing,  even  the  Imp  grew 
discouraged  and  suggested  "turning 
pirates." 

Our  wanderings  had  led  by  devious 
paths,  and  now,  as  luck  would  have  it, 
we  found  ourselves  beneath  "the 
blasted  oak." 

We  sat  down  very  solemnly  side  by 
side,  and  for  a  long  time  there  was 
silence. 

"It's  fine  to  make  'tyrants  tremble,' 
isn't  it,  Uncle  Dick?"  said  the  Imp  at 
last. 

"Assuredly,"  I  nodded. 

"But  I  should  have  liked  to  kiss 
Auntie  Lisbeth  good-bye  first,  an' 
Dorothy,  an'  Louise " 

"What  do  you  mean,  my  Imp?" 

"Oh,  you  know,  Uncle  Dick!  'My 
roof  henceforth  shall  be  the  broad  ex- 
panse.' I'm  going  to  fight  giants  an' 
£>  240  o 


v"^/ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

— an'  all  sorts  of  cads,  you  know.  An' 
then,  if  ever  I  get  to  Persia  an'  do 
find  the  wonderful  lamp,  I  can  wish 
everything  all  right  again,  an'  we 
should  all  be  'happy  ever  after' — you 
an'  Auntie  Lisbeth  an'  Dorothy  an' 
me ;  an'  we  could  live  in  a  palace  with 
slaves.  Oh,  it  would  be  fine !" 

"Yes,  it's  an  excellent  idea,  Imp,  but 
on  the  whole  slightly  risky,  because 
it's  just  possible  that  you  might  never 
find  the  lamp;  besides,  you'll  have  to 
stop  here,  after  all,  because,  you  see, 
I'm  going  away  myself." 

"Then  let's  go  away  together,  Uncle 
Dick,  do!" 

"Impossible,  my  Imp ;  who  will  look 
after  your  Auntie  Lisbeth  and  Doro- 
thy and  Louise?" 

"I  forgot  that,"  he  answered  rue- 
fully. 

"And  they  need  a  deal  of  taking  care 
of,"  I  added. 

"'Fraid  they  do,"  he  nodded;  "but 

£>    241    <3 


^ 


•  •    V  ir        ill       i  ft  ( 

3«")»    .•**  **•       «»n  i  IV  t— ^l^>»ftV^i \^   JJ*n\*  -. 

• 

3Q0-:  ..'    0X0  fjyf*%>    ,4&£v_  ^5,*YU/»  ofr*    '*. 


AfK  LyfDr  C4 PRICE 

there's  Peter,"  he  suggested,  brighten- 
ing. 

"Peter  certainly  knows  how  to  look 
after  horses,  but  that  is  not  quite 
the  same.  Lend  me  your  'trusty 
sword.'  " 

He  rose,  and  drawing  it  from  his 
belt,  handed  it  to  me  with  a  flourish. 

"You  remember  in  the  old  times, 
Imp,  when  knights  rode  out  to  battle, 
it  was  customary  for  them  when  they 
made  a  solemn  promise  to  kiss  the 
cross-hilt  of  their  swords,  just  to  show 
they  meant  to  keep  it.  So  now  I  ask 
you  to  go  back  to  your  Auntie  Lisbeth, 
to  take  care  of  her,  to  shield  and  guard 
her  from  all  things  evil,  and  never  to 
forget  that  you  are  her  loyal  and  true 
knight;  and  now  kiss  your  sword  in 
token,  will  you?"  and  I  passed  back 
the  weapon. 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  with  glistening 
eyes,  "I  will,  on  my  honour,  so  help 
me  Sam !"  and  he  kissed  the  sword 

S>    242   <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Good!"  I  exclaimed;  "thank  you, 
Imp." 

"But  are  you  really  going  away?"  he 
inquired,  looking  at  me  with  a  troub- 
led face. 

"Yes!" 

"Must  you  go?" 

"Yes." 

"Will  you  promise  to  come  back 
some  day — soon?" 

"Yes,  I  promise." 

"On  your  honour?" 

"On  my  honour!"  I  repeated,  and  in 
my  turn  I  obediently  kissed  his  ex- 
tended sword-hilt. 

"Are  you  going  to-night,  Uncle 
Dick?" 

"I  start  very  early  in  the  morning,  so 
you  see  we  had  better  say  'good-bye' 
now,  my  Imp." 

"Oh!"  he  said,  and  stared  away 
down  the  river.  Now,  in  the  button- 
hole of  my  coat  there  hung  a  fading 
rosebud  which  Lisbeth  had  given  me 
D  243  <3 


•^a 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

two  days  ago,  and  acting  on  impulse, 
I  took  it  out. 

"Imp,"  I  said,  "when  you  get  back, 
I  want  you  to  give  this  to  your 
Auntie  Lisbeth  and  say — er — never 
mind,  just  give  it  to  her,  will 
you?" 

"Yes,  Uncle  Dick,"  he  said,  taking 
it  from  me,  but  keeping  his  face  turned 
away. 

"And  now  good-bye,  Imp !" 

"Good-bye !"  he  answered,  still  with- 
out looking  at  me. 

"Won't  you  shake  hands?" 

He  thrust  out  a  grimy  little  palm, 
and  as  I  clasped  it  I  saw  a  big  tear  roll 
down  his  cheek. 

"You'll  come  back  soon — very  soon 
—Uncle  Dick?" 

"Yes,  I'll  come  back,  my  Imp." 

"So — help  you — Sam?" 

"So  help  me  Sam!" 

And  thus  it  was  we  parted,  the  Imp 
and  I,  beneath  the  "blasted  oak,"  and 
s>  244  <3 


y 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

I  know  my  heart  was  strangely 
heavy  as  I  turned  away  and  left 
him. 

After  I  had  gone  some  distance  I 
paused  to  look  back.  He  still  stood 
where  I  had  left  him,  but  his  face  was 
hidden  in  his  arms  as  he  leaned  sob- 
bing against  the  twisted  trunk  of  the 
great  tree. 

All  the  way  to  the  Three  Jolly  An- 
glers' and  during  the  rest  of  the  even- 
ing the  thought  of  the  little  desolate, 
figure  haunted  me,  so  much  so  that, 
having  sent  away  my  dinner  untasted, 
I  took  pen  and  ink  and  wrote  him  a 
letter,  enclosing  with  it  my  penknife, 
which  I  had  often  seen  him  regard 
with  "the  eye  of  desire,"  despite  the 
blade  he  had  broken  upon  a  certain 
memorable  occasion.  This  done,  I  be- 
came possessed  of  a  determination  to 
send  some  message  to  Lisbeth  also — • 
just  a  few  brief  words  which  should 
yet  reveal  to  her  something  of  the 
£>  245  o 


\\ 

LADY  CAPRICE 

thoughts  I  bore  her  ere  I  passed  out 
of  her  life  forever. 

For  over  an  hour  I  sat  there,  chew- 
ing the  stem  of  my  useless  pipe  and 
racking  my  brain,  but  the  "few  brief 
words"  obstinately  refused  to  come. 

Nine  o'clock  chimed  mournfully 
from  the  Norman  tower  of  the  church 
hard  by,  yet  still  my  pen  was  idle  and 
the  paper  before  me  blank;  also  I  be- 
came conscious  of  a  tapping  some- 
where close  at  hand,  now  stopping, 
now  beginning  again,  whose  weari- 
some iteration  so  irritated  my  frac- 
tious nerves  that  I  flung  down  my  pen 
and  rose. 

The  noise  seemed  to  come  from  the 
vicinity  of  the  window.  Crossing  to 
it,  therefore,  I  flung  the  casement  sud- 
denly open,  and  found  myself  staring 
into  a  round  face,  in  which  were  set 
two  very  round  eyes  and  a  button  of  a 
nose,  the  whole  surmounted  by  a  shock 
of  red  hair. 

E>  246  <3 


J 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

'"Allo,  Mr.  Uncle  Dick!" 

It  needed  but  this  and  a  second 
glance  at  the  round  face  to  assure  me 
that  it  pertained  to  Ben,  the  gardener's 
boy. 

"What,  my  noble  Benjamin?"  I  ex- 
claimed. 

"No,  it's  me !"  answered  the  redoubt- 
able Ben.  "'E  said  I  was  to  give  you 
this  an'  tell  you,  'Life  an'  death!'" 
As  he  spoke  he  held  out  a  roll  of  paper 
tied  about  the  middle  with  a  boot  lace; 
which  done,  the  round  head  grinned, 
nodded,  and  disappeared  from  my 
ken.  Unwinding  the  boot  lace,  I 
spread  out  the  paper  and  read  the  fol- 
lowing words,  scrawled  in  pencil: 

Hi  the  to  the  Blarsted  Oke  and  all 
will  be  forgiven.  Come  back  to  your 
luving  frends  and  bigones  shall  be 
bigones.  Look  to  the  hole  in  the 
trunk  there  of. 

Sined, 
ROBIN,  Outlaw  and  Knight. 

£>    247   <3 


CAPRICE 

P.S.  I  mean  where  i  hid  her  stock- 
ings— you  no. 

I  stood  for  some  time  with  this  truly 
mysterious  document  in  my  hand,  in 
two  minds  what  to  do  about  it;  if  I 
went,  the  chances  were  that  I  should 
run  against  the  Imp,  and  there  would 
be  a  second  leave-taking,  which  in  my 
present  mood  I  had  small  taste  for. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  possi- 
bility that  something  might  have 
transpired  which  I  should  do  well  to 
know. 

And  yet  what  more  could  transpire? 
Lisbeth  had  made  her  choice,  my 
dream  was  over,  to-morrow  I  should 
return  to  London — and  there  was  an 
end  of  it  all;  still 

In  this  pitiful  state  of  vacillation  I 
remained  for  some  time,  but  in  the  end 
curiosity  and  a  fugitive  hope  gained 
the  day,  and  taking  my  cap,  I  sallied 
forth. 

It  was,  as  Stevenson  would  say,  "a 

D    248  <3 


i  t  i 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

wonderful  night  of  stars,"  and  the  air 
was  full  of  their  soft,  quivering  light, 
for  the  moon  was  late  and  had  not 
risen  as  yet.  As  I  stepped  from  the 
inn  door,  somebody  in  the  tap-room 
struck  up  "Tom  Bowling"  in  a  rough 
but  not  unmusical  voice ;  and  the  plain- 
tive melody  seemed  somehow  to  be- 
come part  of  the  night. 

Truly,  my  feet  trod  a  path  of 
"faerie,"  carpeted  with  soft  mosses,  a 
path  winding  along  beside  a  river  of 
shadows  on  whose  dark  tide  stars  were 
floating.  I  walked  slowly,  breathing 
the  fragrance  of  the  night  and  watch- 
ing the  great,  silver  moon  creeping 
slowly  up  the  spangled  sky.  So  I  pres- 
ently came  to  the  "blasted  oak."  The 
hole  in  the  trunk  needed  little  search- 
ing for.  I  remembered  it  well  enough, 
and  thrusting  in  my  hand,  drew  out  a 
folded  paper.  Holding  this  close  to 
my  eyes,  I  managed  with  no  little  diffi- 
culty to  decipher  this  message : 
&  249  <3 


A/V 


CAPRICE 


Don't  go  unkel  dick  bekors  Auntie 
lisbeth  wants  you  and  i  want  you  to. 
I  heard  her  say  so  to  herself  in  the 
libree  and  she  was  crying  to,  and 
didn't  see  me  there  but  i  was.  And 
she  said  O  Dick  i  want  you  so,  out 
loud  bekors  she  didn't  no  I  was  there. 
And  i  no  she  was  crying  bekors  i  saw 
the  tiers.  And  this  is  true  on  my 
onner  so  help  me  sam. 

Sined, 

Yore  true  frend  and  Knight, 
REGINALD  AUGUSTUS. 

A  revulsion  of  feeling  swept  over  me 
as  I  read.  Ah !  if  only  I  could  believe 
she  had  said  such  words — my  beauti- 
ful, proud  Lisbeth. 

Alas!  dear  Imp,  how  was  it  possible 
to  believe  you?  And  because  I  knew 
it  could  not  possibly  be  true,  and  be- 
cause I  would  have  given  my  life  to 
know  that  it  was  true,  I  began  to  read 
the  note  all  over  again. 

Suddenly     I     started     and     looked 

round ;  surely  that  was  a  sob !    But  the 

D  250  <3 


oQ'o  J} 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

moon's  level  rays  served  only  to  show 
the  utter  loneliness  about  me.  It  was 
imagination,  of  course,  and  yet  it  had 
sounded  very  real. 

>.  •//  y."    /y 

And  she  said,  "O  Dick,  I  want  you 

',  \  so1"  f  '. 

The  river  lapped  softly  against  the 
bank,  and  somewhere  above  my  head 
the  leaves  rustled  dismally. 

"Dear  little  Imp,  if  it  were  only 
true!" 

Once  again  the  sound  came  to  me, 
low  and  restrained,  but  a  sob  unmis- 
takably. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  giant  tree  I 
beheld  a  figure  half  sitting,  half  lying. 
The  shadow  was  deep  here,  but  as  I 
stooped  the  kindly  moon  sent  down  a 
shaft  of  silver  light,  and  I  saw  a 
lovely,  startled  face,  with  great,  tear- 
dimmed  eyes. 

"Lisbeth!"  I  exclaimed;  then, 
z>  251  <s 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

prompted  by  a  sudden  thought,  I 
glanced  hastily  around. 

"I  am  alone,"  she  said,  interpreting 
my  thought  aright. 

"But — here — and — and  at  such  an 
hour!"  I  stammered  foolishly.  She 
seemed  to  be  upon  her  feet  in  one 
movement,  fronting  me  with  flashing 
eyes. 

"I  came  to  look  for  the  Imp.  I 
found  this  on  his  pillow.  Perhaps  you 
will  explain?"  and  she  handed  me  a 
crumpled  paper. 

DEAR  AUNTIE  LISBATH:  (I  read) 
Unkel  dick  is  going  away  bekors  he  is 
in  luv  with  you  and  you  are  angry  with 
the  Blarsted  oke,  where  I  hid  yore 
stokkings  if  you  want  to  kiss  me  and  be 
kind  to  me  again,  come  to  me  bekors 
I  want  someboddie  to  be  nice  to  me 
now  he  is  gone. 

yore  luving  sorry  IMP. 

P.S.  He  said  he  would  like  to  hang 
himself  in  his  sword-belt  to  the  arm 
of  yonder  tree  and  hurl  himself  from 
£>  252  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

yon  topmost  pinnakel,  so  I  no  he  is  in 
luv  with  you. 

"Oh,  blessed  Imp!" 

"And  now  where  is  he?"  she  de- 
manded. 

"Lisbeth,  I  don't  know." 

"You  don't  knowl  Then  why  are 
you  here?" 

For  answer  I  held  out  the  letter  I  had 
found,  and  watched  while  she  read  the 
words  I  could  not  believe. 

Her  hat  was  off,  and  the  moon  made 
wonderful  lights  in  the  coils  of  her 
black  hair.  She  was  wearing  an  in- 
door gown  of  some  thin  material  that 
clung,  boldly  revealing  the  gracious 
lines  of  her  supple  figure,  and  in  the 
magic  of  the  moon  she  seemed  some 
young  goddess  of  the  woods — tall  and 
fair  and  strong,  yet  infinitely  womanly. 

Now    as    she    finished    reading    she 

turned  suddenly  away,  yet  not  before 

I  had  seen  the  tell-tale  colour  glowing 

in   her   cheeks — a   slow   wave   which 

D  253  <J 


'•-•- 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

surged  over  her  from  brow  to  chin, 
and  chin  to  the  round,  white  column 
of  her  throat. 

And  she  said,  "O  Dick,  I  want  you 
so  I"  I  read  aloud. 

"Oh,"  Lisbeth  murmured. 

"Lisbeth,  is  it  true?" 

She  stood  with  her  face  averted, 
twisting  the  letter  in  her  fingers. 

"Lisbeth !"  I  said,  and  took  a  step 
nearer.  Still  she  did  not  speak,  but 
her  hands  came  out  to  me  with  a  swift, 
passionate  gesture,  and  her  eyes  looked 
into  mine;  and  surely  none  were  ever 
more  sweet,  with  the  new  shyness  in 
their  depths  and  the  tears  glistening 
on  their  lashes. 

And  in  that  moment  Doubt  and  Fear 
were  swallowed  up  in  a  great  joy,  and 
I  forgot  all  things  save  that  Lisbeth 
was  before  me  and  that  I  loved  her. 

The  moon,  risen  now,  had  made  a 

broad  path  of  silver  across  the  shad- 

&  254  <j 


j\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

owy  river  to  our  very  feet,  and  I  re- 
membered how  the  Imp  had  once  told 
me  that  it  was  there  for  the  moon 
fairies  to  come  down  by  when  they 
bring  us  happy  dreams.  Surely,  the 
air  was  full  of  moon  fairies  to- 
night. 

"O  Imp,  thrice  blessed  Imp !" 

"But — but  Selwyn?"  I  groaned  at 
last. 

"Well?" 

"If  you  love  him " 

"But  I  don't!" 

"But  if  you  are  to  marry  him " 

"But  I'm  not!  I  was  going  to  tell 
you  so  in  the  orchard  yesterday,  but 
you  gave  me  no  chance ;  you  preferred 
to  guess,  and,  of  course,  guessed 
wrong  altogether.  I  knew  it  made 
you  wretched,  and  I  was  glad  of  it  and 
meant  to  keep  you  so  a  long,  long 
time;  but  when  I  looked  up  and  saw 
you  standing  there  so  very,  very  mis- 
erable, Dick,  I  couldn't  keep  it  up  any 
D  255  o 


MX  I/IDX  CAPRICE 

longer,  because  I  was  so  dreadfully 
wretched  myself,  you  know." 

"Can  you  ever  forgive  me?" 

"That  depends,  Dick." 

"On  what?" 

Lisbeth  stooped,  and  picking  up  her 
hat,  began  to  put  it  on. 

"Depends  on  what?"  I  repeated. 

Her  hat  was  on  now,  but  for  a  while 
she  did  not  answer,  her  eyes  upon  the 
"fairy  path."  When  at  last  she  spoke 
her  voice  was  very  low  and  tender. 

'  'Not  far  from  the  village  of  Down, 
in  Kent,  there  is  a  house,'  "  she  began, 

'  'a  very  old  house,  with  pointed 
gables  and  pannelled  chambers,  but 
empty  to-night  and  desolate.'  You 
see  I  remember  it  all,"  she  broke  off. 

"Yes,  you  remember  it  all,"  I  re- 
peated, wondering. 

"Dick  —  I  —  I  want  you  to  —  take  me 
there.  I've  thought  of  it  all  so  often. 
Take  me  there,  Dick." 

"Lisbeth,  do  you  mean  it?" 

£>    256  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"It  has  been  the  dream  of  my  life  for 
a  long  time  now — to  work  for  you 
there,  to  take  care  of  you,  Dick — you 
need  such  a  deal,  such  a  great  deal  of 
taking  care  of — to  walk  with  you  in 
the  old  rose  garden;  but  I'm  a  beggar 
now,  you  know,  though  I  sha'n't  mind 
a  bit  if — if  you  want  me,  Dick." 

"Want  you!"  I  cried,  and  with  the 
words  I  drew  her  close  and  kissed  her. 

Now,  from  somewhere  in  the  tree 
above  came  a  sudden  crack  and  mighty 
snapping  of  twigs. 

"All  right,  Uncle  Dick!"  cried  a 
voice;  "it's  only  the  branch.  Don't 
worry." 

"Imp!"  I  exclaimed. 

"I'm  coming,  Uncle  Dick,"  he  an- 
swered, and  with  much  exertion  and 
heavy  breathing  he  presently  emerged 
into  view  and  squirmed  himself  safely 
to  earth.  For  a  moment  he  stood 
looking  from  one  to  the  other  of  us, 
then  he  turned  to  Lisbeth. 

£>    257    <3 


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one  •• 


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CAPRICE 


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"Won't  you  forgive  me,  too,  Auntie 
Lisbeth,  please?"  he  said. 

"Forgive  you  !"  she  cried,  and  falling 
on  her  knees,  gathered  him  in  her 
arms. 

"I'm  glad  I  didn't  go  to  Persia,  after 
all,  Uncle  Dick,"  he  said  over  her 
shoulder. 

"Persia  !"  repeated  Lisbeth,  wonder- 
ingly. 

"Oh,  yes;  you  were  so  angry  with 
Uncle  Dick  an'  me  —  so  frightfull' 
angry,  you  know,  that  I  was  going  to 
try  to  find  the  'wonderful  lamp'  so  I 
could  wish  everything  all  right  again 
an'  all  of  us  'live  happy  ever  after'; 
but  the  blasted  oak  did  just  as  well, 
an'  was  nicer,  somehow,  wasn't  it?" 

"Infinitely  nicer,"  I  answered. 

"An'  you  will  never  be  angry  with 
Uncle  Dick  or  me  any  more,  will  you, 
auntie  —  that  is,  not  frightfull'  angry, 
you  know?" 

"Never  any  more,  dear." 
E>  258  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"On  your  honour?" 

"On  my  honour!" 

"So  help  you  Sam?" 

"So  help  me  Sam!"  she  repeated, 
smiling,  but  there  were  tears  in  her 
voice. 

Very  gravely  the  Imp  drew  his 
"trusty  sword,"  which  she,  following 
his  instructions,  obediently  kissed. 

"And  now,"  cried  he,  "we  are  all 
happy  again,  aren't  we?" 

"More  happy  than  I  ever  hoped  or 
dreamed  to  be,"  answered  Lisbeth, 
still  upon  her  knees;  "and  oh,  Imp — 
dear  little  Imp,  come  and  kiss  me." 


E>  259  o 


VIII 

THE  LAND  OF  HEARTHS  DELIGHT 

SURELY  there  never  was  and  never 
could  be  such  another  morning  as  this  \ 
Ever  since  the  first  peep  of  dawn  a 
blackbird  had  been  singing  to  me  from 
the  fragrant  syringa-bush  that  blos- 
somed just  beneath  my  window.  Each 
morning  I  had  wakened  to  the  joyous 
melody  of  his  golden  song.  But  to- 
day the  order  was  reversed.  I  had  sat 
there  at  my  open  casement,  breathing 
the  sweet  purity  of  the  morning, 
watching  the  eastern  sky  turn  slowly 
from  pearl-grey  to  saffron  and  from 
saffron  to  deepest  crimson,  until  at  last 
the  new-risen  sun  had  filled  all  the 
world  with  his  glory.  And  then  this 
blackbird  of  mine  had  begun — very 
hoarse  at  first,  trying  a  note  now  and 

£>    260   <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

then  in  a  tentative  sort  of  fashion,  as 
though  still  drowsy  and  not  quite  sure 
of  himself,  but  little  by  little  his  notes 
had  grown  longer,  richer,  mellower, 
until  here  he  was  pouring  out  his  soul 
in  an  ecstasy. 

Ah!  surely  there  never  was,  there 
never  could  be,  such  another  morning 
as  this ! 

Out  of  the  green  twilight  of  the 
woods  a  gentle  wind  was  blowing, 
laden  with  the  scent  of  earth  and  hid- 
den flowers.  Dewdrops  twinkled  in 
the  grass  and  hung  glistening  from 
every  leaf  and  twig,  and  beyond  all 
was  the  sheen  of  the  murmurous 
river. 

The  blackbird  was  in  full  song  now, 
and  by  degrees  others  joined  in — 
thrush,  and  lark,  and  linnet,  with  the 
humbler  voices  of  the  farmyard — un- 
til the  sunny  air  was  vibrant  with  the 
chorus. 

Presently  a  man  in  a  sleeved  waist- 

£>    26l    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

4 

coat  crossed  the  paddock,  whistling 
lustily,  and  from  somewhere  below 
there  rose  a  merry  clatter  of  plates 
and  dishes;  and  thus  the  old  inn, 
which  had  seen  so  many  mornings, 
woke  up  to  yet  another. 

But  there  never  was,  there  never 
could  be,  just  such  another  morning  as 
this  was! 

And  in  a  little  while,  having  dressed 
with  more  than  usual  care,  I  went 
downstairs  to  find  my  breakfast  await- 
ing me  in  the  "Sanded  Parlour,"  hav- 
ing ordered  it  for  this  early  hour  the 
night  previously — ham  and  eggs  and 
fragrant  coffee,  what  mortal  could 
wish  for  more  ? 

And  while  I  ate,  waited  on  by  the 
rosy-cheeked  chambermaid,  in  came 
Master  Amos  Baggett,  mine  host,  to 
pass  the  time  of  day,  and  likewise  to 
assure  me  that  my  baggage  should 
catch  the  early  train;  who  when  I 
rose,  my  meal  at  an  end,  paused  to 
D  262  <3 


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MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

wipe  his  honest  hand  quite  needlessly 
upon  his  snowy  apron  ere  he  wished 
me  "Good-bye." 

So  having  duly  remembered  the 
aforesaid  rosy-cheeked  chambermaid, 
the  obsequious  "Boots"  and  the  grin- 
ning ostler,  I  sallied  forth  into  the  sun- 
shine, and  crossing  the  green,  where 
stood  the  battered  sign-post,  I  came  to 
a  flight  of  rough  steps,  at  the  foot  of 
which  my  boat  was  moored.  In  I 
stepped,  cast  loose  the  painter,  and 
shipping  the  sculls,  shot  out  into  the 
stream. 

No,  there  never  was,  there  never 
could  be,  just  such  another  morning  as 
this,  for  to-day  I  was  to  marry  Lis- 
beth,  and  every  stroke  of  the  oar  car- 
ried me  nearer  to  her  and  happiness. 

Gaily  the  alders  bent  and  nodded  to 
me;  joyfully  the  birds  piped  and  sang; 
merrily  the  water  laughed  and  chat- 
tered against  my  prow  as  I  rowed 
through  the  golden  morning. 

S>    263    <3 


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MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Long  before  the  hour  appointed  I 
reached  the  water-stairs  at  Fane 
Court,  and  tying  my  skiff,  lighted  my 
pipe  and  watched  the  smoke  rise 
slowly  into  the  still  air  while  I  tried 
"to  possess  my  soul  in  patience." 

Sitting  thus,  I  deamed  many  a  fair 
dream  of  the  new  life  that  was  to  be, 
and  made  many  resolutions,  as  a  man 
should  upon  his  wedding  morn. 

And  at  last  came  Lisbeth  herself, 
*  *        )•  jk  *i" 

swiftly,  lightly,  as  fair  and  sweet  and 

fresh  as  the  morning,  who  yet  paused 
a  while  to  lean  upon  the  balustrade 
and  look  down  at  me  beneath  the  brim 
of  her  hat.  Up  I  rose  and  stretched 
out  my  hands  to  her,  but  she  still  stood 
there,  and  I  saw  her  cheeks  were 
flushed  and  her  eyes  shy  and  tender. 
So  once  more  we  stood  upon  the  old 
water-stairs,  she  on  the  top  stair,  I  on 
the  lower;  and  again  I  saw  the  little 
foot  beneath  her  skirt  come  slowly 

towards  me  and  hesitate. 

. 

S>  264   <3 


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':::>•?   "Again    I     saw    the    little    foot 
\  beneath    her    skirt   come    slowly 
^1     towards  me  and  hesitate  " 


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MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Dick,"  she  said,  "you  know  that 
Aunt  Agatha  has  cut  me  off — disin- 
herited me  altogether — you  have  had 
time  to  think  it  all  over?" 

"Yes." 

"And  you  are  quite — quite  sure?" 

"Quite!  I  think  I  have  been  so  all 
my  life." 

"I'm  penniless  now,  Dick,  a  beggar, 
with  nothing  in  the  world  but  the 
clothes  I  wear." 

"Yes,"  I  said,  catching  her  hands  in 
mine,  "my  beggar-maid;  the  loveliest, 
noblest,  sweetest  that  ever  stooped  to 
bestow  her  love  on  man." 

"Dick,  how  glorious  everything  is 
this  morning — the  earth,  the  sky,  and 
the  river!" 

"It  is  our  wedding  morning!"  said  I. 

"Our  wedding  day,"  she  repeated  in 
a  whisper. 

"And  there  never  was  just  such  a 
morning  as  this,"  said  I. 

"But,  Dick,  all  days  cannot  be  as 
£>  265  <3 


ra 


CAPRICE 

this — there  must  come  clouds  and 
storm  sometimes,  and — and — O  Dick  I 
are  you  sure  that  you  will  never,  never 
regret " 

"I  love  you,  Lisbeth,  in  the  shadow 
as  well  as  the  sunshine — love  you  ever 
and  always."  And  so,  the  little  foot 
hesitating  no  longer,  Lisbeth  came 
down  to  me. 

Oh,  never  again  could  there  be  such 
another  morning  as  this! 

"Ahoy!" 

I  looked  round  with  a  start,  and 
there,  his  cap  cocked  rakishly  over  one 
eye,  his  "murderous  cutlass"  at  his  hip 
and  his  arms  folded  across  his  chest, 
stood  "Scarlet  Sam,  the  Terror  of  the 
South  Seas." 

"Imp!"  cried  Lisbeth. 

"Avast!"  cried  he  in  lusty  tones; 
"whereaway?" 

I  glanced  helplessly  at  Lisbeth  and 
she  at  me. 

"Whereaway,    shipmate?"    he    bel- 

E>   266    <3 


'/  If 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

lowed  in  nautical  fashion,  but  before  I 
could  find  a  suitable  answer  Dorothy 
made  her  appearance  with  the  fluffy 
kitten  "Louise"  cuddled  under  her 
arm  as  usual. 

"How  do  you  do?"  she  said  de- 
murely; "it's  awfully  nice  to  get  up  so 
early,  isn't  it  ?  We  heard  auntie  creep- 
ing about  on  tippity-toes,  you  know,  so 
we  came,  too.  Reginald  said  she  was 
pretending  to  be  burglars,  but  I  think 
she's  going  'paddling.'  Are  you, 
auntie?" 

"No,  dear;  not  this  morning,"  an- 
swered Lisbeth,  shaking  her  head. 

"Then  you  are  going  for  a  row  in 
Uncle  Dick's  boat.  How  fine!" 

"An'  you'll  take  us  with  you,  won't 
you,  Uncle  Dick?"  cried  the  Imp 
eagerly.  "We'll  be  pirates.  I'll  be 
'Scarlet  Sam,'  an'  you  can  be  'Timothy 
Bone,  the  bo'sun,'  like  you  were  last 
time." 

"Impossible,  my  Imp,"  I  said  firmly. 

D    267    <3 
^^  ff^ffi^^^Z?^ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

He  looked  at  me  incredulously  for  a 
moment,  then,  seeing  I  meant  it,  his 
lip  began  to  quiver. 

"I  didn't  think  T-Timothy  B-Bone' 
would  ever  desert  me,"  he  said,  and 
turned  away. 

"Oh,  auntie!"  exclaimed  Dorothy, 
"won't  you  take  us?" 

"Dear — not  this  morning." 

"Are  you  going  far,  then,  Uncle 
Dick?" 

"Yes,  very  far,"  I  answered,  glanc- 
ing uneasily  from  the  Imp's  drooping 
figure  to  Lisbeth. 

"I  wonder  where?" 

"Oh — well — er — down  the  river,"  I 
stammered,  quite  at  a  loss. 

"Y-e-s,  but  where?"  persisted  Doro- 
thy. 

"Well,  to— er— to " 

"To  the  'Land  of  Heart's  Delight,'  " 
Lisbeth  put  in,  "and  you  may  come 
with  us,  after  all,  if  Uncle  Dick  will 
take  you." 

£>   268   <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"To  be  sure  he  will,  if  your  auntie 
wishes  it,"  I  cried,  "so  step  aboard, 
my  hearties,  and  lively!"  In  a  mo- 
ment the  Imp's  hand  was  in  mine,  and 
he  was  smiling  up  at  me  with  wet 
lashes. 

"I  knew  'Timothy  Bone'  could  never 
be  a — a  'mutinous  rogue,'  "  he  said, 
and  turned  to  aid  Dorothy  aboard 
with  the  air  of  an  admiral  on  his  flag- 
ship. 

And  now,  all  being  ready,  he  un- 
hitched the  painter,  or,  as  he  said, 
"slipped  our  cable,"  and  we  glided  out 
into  midstream. 

"A  ship,"  he  said  thoughtfully,  "al- 
ways has  a  name.  What  shall  we  call 
this  one?  Last  time  we  were  'pirates' 
and  she  was  the  Black  Death " 

"Never  mind  last  time,  Imp,"  I 
broke  in;  "to-day  she  is  the  Joyful 
Hope.'' 

"That  doesn't  sound  very  'pirate-y/ 
somehow,"  he  responded  with  a  dis- 
D  269  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

paraging  shake  of  the  head,   "but  I 

s'pose  it  will  have  to  do." 

And  so,  upon  that  summer  morning, 
the  good  ship  Joyful  Hope  set  sail  for 
the  "Land  of  Heart's  Delight,"  and 
surely  no  vessel  of  her  size  ever  car- 
ried quite  such  a  cargo  of  happiness 
before  or  since. 

And  once  again  "Scarlet  Sam" 
stamped  upon  the  "quarter-deck"  and 
roared  orders  anent  "lee  shrouds"  and 
"weather  braces,"  with  divers  injunc- 
tions concerning  the  "helm,"  while  his 
eyes  rolled  and  he  flourished  his  "mur- 
derous cutlass"  as  he  had  done  upon  a 
certain  other  memorable  occasion. 

Never,  never  again  could  there  be 
just  such  another  morning  as  this — 
for  two  of  us  at  least. 

On  we  went,  past  rush  and  sedge  and 
weeping  willow,  by  roaring  weir  and 
cavernous  lock,  into  the  shadow  of 
grim  stone  bridges  and  out  again  into 
the  sunshine,  past  shady  woods  and 


270  « 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

green  uplands,  until  at  length  we  "cast 
anchor"  before  a  flight  of  steps  lead- 
ing up  to  a  particularly  worn  stone 
gateway  surmounted  by  a  crumbling 
stone  cross. 

"Why,"  exclaimed  the  Imp,  staring, 
"this  is  a  church!" 

"Imp,"  I  nodded,  "I  believe  it  is." 

"But  to-day  isn't  Sunday,  you  know," 
he  remonstrated,  seeing  it  was  our  in- 
tention to  land. 

"Never  mind  that,  Imp;  'the  better 
the  deed,  the  better  the  day,  you 
know.'  " 

On  we  went,  Dorothy  with  the  fluffy 
Louise  beneath  her  arm  and  the  Imp 
with  cutlass  swinging  at  his  belt,  while 
Lisbeth  and  I  brought  up  the  rear,  and 
as  we  went  she  slipped  her  hand  into 
mine.  In  the  porch  we  came  upon  an 
aged  woman  busy  with  a  broom  and  a 
very  large  duster,  who,  catching  sight 
of  Dorothy's  kitten  and  the  Imp's 
"murderous  weapon,"  dropped  first 
D  271  o 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

the  duster  and  then  the  broom,  and 
stood  staring  in  open-mouthed  aston- 
ishment. 

And  there  in  the  dim  old  church,  with 
the  morning  sun  making  a  glory  of 
the  window  above  our  heads,  and  with 
the  birds  for  our  choristers,  the  vows 
were  exchanged  and  the  blessing  pro- 
nounced that  gave  Lisbeth  and  her  fu- 
ture into  my  keeping;  yet  I  think  we 
were  both  conscious  of  those  two  small 
figures  in  the  gloom  of  the  great  pew 
behind,  who  stared  in  round-eyed  won- 
derment. 

The  register  duly  signed,  and  all  for- 
malities over  and  done,  we  go  out  into 
the  sunshine;  and  once  more  the  aged 
woman,  richer  now  by  half  a  crown,  is 
reduced  to  mute  astonishment,  so  that 
speech  is  beyond  her,  when  the  Imp, 
lifting  his  feathered  cap,  politely 
wishes  her  "good-morning." 

Being  come  aboard  the  Joyful  Hope, 
there  ensued  an  awkward  pause,  dur- 
£>  272  <s 


s 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

ing  which  Lisbeth  looked  at  the  chil- 
dren and  I  at  her. 

"We  must  take  them  back  home," 
she  said  at  last. 

"We  shall  miss  our  train,  Lis- 
beth." 

"But,"  and  here  she  blushed  most  de- 
lightfully, "there  is  really  no  hurry; 
we  can  take  a — a  later  one." 

"So  be  it,"  I  said,  and  laid  our  course 
accordingly. 

For  a  time  there  was  silence,  during 
which  the  Imp,  as  if  in  momentary  ex- 
pectation of  an  attack  by  bloodthirsty 
foes,  scowled  about  him,  pistol  in 
hand,  keeping,  as  he  said,  "his  weather 
eye  lifting,"  while  Dorothy  glanced 
from  Lisbeth  to  me  and  back  again 
with  puzzled  brows. 

"I  do  believe  you  have  been  marry- 
ing eacfr  other!"  she  said  suddenly. 
The  Imp  forgot  all  about  his  "weather 
eye"  and  stared  aghast. 

"'Course  not!"  he  cried  at  last. 
£>  273  <j 


vir 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Uncle  Dick  wouldn't  do  such  a  thing, 
would  you,  Uncle  Dick?" 

"Imp,  I  have — I  do  confess  it." 

"Oh!"  he  exclaimed  in  a  tone  of 
deepest  tragedy.  "And  you  let  him 
go  and  do  it,  Auntie  Lisbeth?" 

"He  was  so  very,  very  persistent, 
Imp,"  she  said,  actually  turning  crim- 
son beneath  his  reproachful  eye. 

"Don't  be  too  hard  on  us,  Imp,"  I 
pleaded. 

"I  s'pose  it  can't  be  helped  now,"  he 
said,  a  little  mollified,  but  frowning 
sternly,  nevertheless. 

"No,"  I  answered,  with  my  eyes 
upon  Lisbeth's  lovely,  blushing  face, 
"it  certainly  can't  be  helped  now." 

"And  you'll  never  do  it  again?" 

"Never  again,  Imp." 

"Then  I  forgive  you,  only  why — 
why  did  you  do  it?" 

"Well,  you  see,  my  Imp,  I  have  an 
old  house  in  the  country,  a  very  cosy 
old  place,  but  it's  lonely,  horribly 
£>  274  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

lonely,  to  live  by  one's  self.  I've 
wanted  somebody  to  help  me  to  live  in 
it  for  a  long  time,  but  nobody  would, 
you  know,  Imp.  At  last  your  Auntie 
Lisbeth  has  promised  to  take  care  of 
the  house  and  me,  to  fill  the  desolate 
rooms  with  her  voice  and  sweet  pres- 
ence, and  my  empty  life  with  her  life. 
You  can't  quite  understand  how  much 
this  means  to  me  now,  Imp,  but  you 
will  some  day,  perhaps." 

"But  are  you  going  to  take  our 
Auntie  Lisbeth  away  from  us?"  cried 
Dorothy. 

"Yes,  dear,"  I  answered,  "but " 

"Oh,  I  don't  like  that  one  bit!"  ex- 
claimed the  Imp. 

"But  you  shall  come  there  and  stay 
with  us  as  often  as  you  wish,"  said 
Lisbeth. 

"That  would  be  perfectly  beautiful !" 
cried  Dorothy. 

"Yes,  but  when?"  inquired  the  Imp 
gloomily. 

t>  275  <3 


; 


i 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Soon,"  I  answered. 

"Very  soon  I"  said  Lisbeth. 

"Will  you  promise  to  be  'Timothy 
Bone,  the  bo'sun,'  an'  the  'Black 
Knight/  an'  'Little- John'  whenever  I 
want  you  to — so  help  you  Sam,  Uncle 
Dick?" 

"I  will,  Imp." 

"An'  make  me  a  long  sword  with  a — 
a  'deadly  point'  ?" 

"Yes,"  I  nodded,  "and  show  you 
some  real  ones,  too." 

"Real  ones?"  he  cried. 

"Oh,  yes,  and  armour  as  well ;  there's 
lots  of  it  in  the  old  house,  you  know." 

"Let's  go  now!"  he  cried,  nearly  up- 
setting the  boat  in  his  eagerness. 

"Oh!  O  Dick!"  cried  Lisbeth  at  this 
moment,  "Dick — there's  Aunt !" 

"Aunt?"  I  repeated. 

"Aunt  Agatha,  and  she  sees  us; 
look!" 

Turning  my  head,  I  beheld  a  most 
unexpected  sight.  Advancing  directly 
z>  276  <3 


l\ 


H 


a 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

upon  us  was  the  old  boat,  that  identi- 
cal, weather-beaten  tub  of  a  boat  in 
which  Lisbeth  and  I  had  come  so  near 
ending  our  lives  together,  the  which 
has  already  been  told  in  these  Chroni- 
cles. On  the  rowing-thwart  sat  Peter, 
the  coachman,  and  in  the  stern-sheets, 
very  grim  and  stiff  in  the  back,  her 
lorgnettes  at  her  eyes,  was  Lady  War- 
burton. 

Escape  was  quite  out  of  the  question, 
and  in  half  a  dozen  strokes  of  the  oar 
we  were  alongside  and  close  under  the 
battery  of  the  lorgnettes. 

"Elizabeth,"  she  began  in  her  most 
ponderous  manner,  ignoring  my  pres- 
ence altogether,  "Elizabeth,  child,  I 
blush  for  you." 

"Then,  Aunt,  please  don't,"  cried 
Lisbeth;  "I  can  do  quite  enough  of 
that  for  myself.  I'm  always  blushing 
lately,"  and  as  if  to  prove  her  words 
she  immediately  proceeded  to  do  so. 

"Elizabeth,"  proceeded  Lady  War- 
s>  277  o 


£s 

F'ffip      *4r     %•. 


'.,  e\ 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

burton,  making  great  play  with  her 
lorgnettes,  "your  very  shameless,  un- 
grateful letter  I  received  last  night. 
This  morning  I  arose  at  an  objection- 
ably early  hour,  travelled  down  in  a 
draughty  train,  and  here  I  am  out  on  a 
damp  and  nasty  river  in  a  leaky  boat, 
with  my  feet  horribly  wet,  but  deter- 
mined to  save  you  from  an  act  which 
you  may  repent  all  your  days." 

"Excuse  me,"  I  said,  bowing  deeply, 
"but  such  heroic  devotion  cannot  be 
sufficiently  appreciated  and  admired. 
In  Lisbeth's  name  I  beg  to  thank  you ; 
nevertheless " 

"Mr.  Brent,  I  believe?"  she  said  in  a 
tone  of  faint  surprise,  as  though  notic- 
ing my  presence  for  the  first  time. 

"At  your  service,  madam!"  I  an- 
swered with  another  bow. 

"Then  I  must  ask  you  to  convey  my 
ward  back  to   Fane   Court   immedi- 
ately ;  she  and  the  children  will  accom- 
pany me  to  London  at  once." 
E>  278  <3 


)o 


(r 


CAPRICE 

"My  dear  Lady  Warburton,"  I  said, 
fronting  the  lorgnettes  with  really  ad- 
mirable fortitude,  "it  grieves  me  to 
deny  you  this  request,  but  believe  me, 
it  is  impossible !" 

"Impossible!"  she  repeated. 

"Quite !"  I  answered.  "You  here  be- 
hold the  good  ship  Joyful  Hope, 
bound  for  the  'Land  of  Heart's  De- 
light,' and  we  aboard  are  all  deter- 
mined on  our  course." 

"  'An'  the  wind  blows  fair,  an'  our 
helm's  a-lee,  so  it's  heave,  my  mari- 
ners, all — O !'  "  cried  the  Imp  in  his 
nautical  voice. 

"Dear  me!"  ejaculated  Lady  War- 
burton,  staring.  "Elizabeth,  be  so 
obliging  as  to  tell  me  what  it  all 
means.  Why  have  you  dragged  these 
children  from  their  beds  to  come 
philandering  upon  a  horrid  river  at 
such  an  hour?" 

"Excuse  me,  Aunt,  but  she  didn't 
drag  us,"  protested  the  Imp,  bowing 
D  279  « 


s\ 


IT. 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

exactly  as  I  had  done  a  moment  be- 
fore. 

"Oh,  no,  we  came,"  nodded  Doro- 
thy. 

"An'  we've  been  getting  married,  you 
know,"  said  the  Imp. 

"And  it  was  all  very,  very  beautiful," 
added  Dorothy;  "even  Louise  enjoyed 
it  ever  so  much!"  and  she  kissed  the 
fluffy  kitten. 

"Married!"  cried  Lady  Warburton 
in  a  tone  of  horror;  "married!" 

"They  would  do  it,  you  know," 
sighed  the  Imp.  • 

"And  quite  right,  too,"  said  Doro- 
thy; "everybody  always  marries  some- 
body, some  time;  it's  very  fashionable 
at  present.  Mamma  did  and  so  shall 
I  when  I  grow  up,  I  suppose." 

"Goodness  gracious,  child!"  ex- 
claimed Lady  Warburton. 

"I  s'pose  you're  angry  'bout  it, 
Aunt,"  pursued  the  Imp.  "I  was  at 
first — just  a  weeny  bit;  but  you  see 

£>    28O    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

Uncle  Dick  has  a  wonderful  house 
with  swords  an'  armour,  but  empty, 
an'  he  wanted  to  keep  somebody  in  it 
to  see  that  everything  was  nice,  I 
s'pose,  an'  sing,  you  know,  an'  take 
care  of  his  life.  Auntie  Lisbeth  can 
sing,  an'  she  wanted  to  go,  so  I  for- 
gave them." 

"Oh,  indeed,  Reginald?"  said  Lady 
Warburton  in  a  rather  queer  voice, 
and  I  saw  the  corners  of  her  high, 
thin  nose  quiver  strangely. 

"Beggin'  your  pardon,  ma'am,"  said 
Peter  at  this  moment,  touching  his 
cap,  "I  don't  know  much  about 
boats,  my  line  bein'  'osses,  but  I  do 
think  as  this  'ere  boat  is  a-goin'  to 
sink." 

"Then  row  for  the  shore  instantly," 
said  Lady  Warburton  firmly,  "and. 
should  I  never  reach  it  alive" — here 
she  brought  her  lorgnette  to  bear  on 
Lisbeth — "I  say  if  I  do  meet  a  watery 
grave  this  day,  my  epitaph  shall  be, 
s>  281  <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


I,    at   a   nod 
to    the    bank 
disembarked 


'Drowned 
Niece.'  " 

However,  this  gloomy  tragedy  being 
happily  averted,  and  Lady  War- 
burton  safely  landed, 
from  Lisbeth,  rowed 
likewise  and  we  all 
together. 

Now,  as  kind  Fortune  would  have  it, 
and  Fortune  was  very  kind  that  morn- 
ing, the  place  where  we  stood  was 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  The  Three 
Jolly  Anglers,  and  wafted  to  us  on 
the  warm,  still  air  there  came  a  won- 
drous fragrance,  far  sweeter  and  more 
alluring  than  the  breath  of  roses  or 
honeysuckle — the  delightful  aroma  of 
frying  bacon. 

Lady  Warburton  faced  us,  her  para- 
sol tucked  beneath  her  arm,  looking 
very  much  like  a  military  officer  on  pa- 
rade. 

"Dorothy  and  Reginald,"  she  said  in 
a  short,  sharp  voice  of  command,  "bid 

£>    282 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

good-bye  to  your  Auntie  Lisbeth  and 
accompany  me  home  at  once." 

"No,  no,"  cried  Lisbeth,  with  hands 
stretched  out  appealingly,  "you  will 
not  leave  us  like  this,  Aunt — for  the 
sake  of  the  love  I  shall  always  bear 
you,  and — and " 

"Elizabeth,  I  cared  for  you  from 
your  babyhood  up.  Ingratitude  is  my 
return.  I  watched  you  grow  from 
child  to  woman.  I  planned  out  a  fu- 
ture for  you ;  you  broke  those  plans.  I 
might  tell  you  that  I  am  a  lonely,  dis- 
appointed old  woman,  who  loved  you 
much  more  than  she  thought,  but  I 
won't!" 

"Dear,  dear  Aunt  Agatha,  did  you 
love  me  so  much,  and  I  never  guessed ; 
you  wouldn't  let  me,  you  see.  Ah !  do 
not  think  me  ungrateful,  but  when  a 
woman  comes  to  marry  she  must 
choose  for  herself  as  I  have  done ;  and 
I  am  happy,  dear,  and  proud  of  my 
choice — proud  to  have  won  the  true 


1i 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

love  of  a  true  man;  only  do  not  think 
I  am  ungrateful.  And  if  this  must  be 
good-bye,  do  not  let  us  part  like  this — 
for  my  sake  and  your  sake  and  the 
sake  of  my — husband." 

Lady  Warburton  had  turned  away, 
and  there  ensued  a  somewhat  embar- 
rassing pause. 

"Elizabeth,"  she  said  suddenly,  "if 
I  don't  mistake,  somebody  is  frying 
bacon  somewhere,  and  I'm  ravenously 
hungry." 

"So  am  I,"  cried  the  Imp. 

"And  so  am  I,"  Dorothy  chimed  in, 

"Then  suppose  we  have  breakfast," 
I  suggested,  and  in  almost  less  time 
than  it  takes  to  tell  I  was  leading  the 
way  across  the  green  with  Lady  War- 
burton  on  my  arm — actually  leaning 
on  my  arm.  It  all  happened  so 
quickly  that  Heaven  and  Lisbeth  alone 
know  how  she  got  there. 

And  now  who  so  surprised  to  see  us 

as  honest  Amos  Baggett,  ushering  us 

D  284  <j 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

with  many  bows  and  smiles  into  the 
Sanded  Parlour,  where  breakfast  was 
soon  ready ;  and  who  so  quick  and  dex- 
terous in  attending  to  our  wants  as  the 
rosy-cheeked  chambermaid  ? 

And  what  a  breakfast  that  was  I 
Never  had  the  antique  andirons  on  the 
hearth,  the  pewter  plates  and  dishes 
upon  the  walls,  the  brass-bound  blun- 
derbuss above  the  mantel  seemed  so 
bright  and  polished  before,  and  surely 
never  had  they  gleamed  upon  a  mer- 
rier company.  To  be  sure,  the  Imp's 
remarks  were  somewhat  few  and  far 
between,  but  that  was  simply  on  ac- 
count of  the  blackberry  jam. 

"I  suppose  you  are  both  ridiculously 
happy,"  said  Lady  Warburton,  eyeing 
us  over  her  coffee  cup. 

"Most  absurdly!"  answered  Lisbeth, 
blushing  all  in  a  moment. 

"Preposterously!"  I  nodded. 

"Of  course !"  said  Lady  Warburton, 
and  setting  down  her  cup,  she  sighed, 

285    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


while  I  wondered  what  memories  her 
narrow  life  could  hold. 

"Uncle  Dick,"  said  the  Imp  sud- 
denly, "do  you  s'pose  Scarlet  Sam  ever 
ate  blackberry  jam?" 

"Undoubtedly,  my  Imp,  when  he 
could  get  it."  This  appeared  to 
greatly  relieve  his  mind,  for  he  took 
another  helping. 

But  all  things  must  have  an  end, 
alas! — even  such  a  breakfast  as  this, 
and  presently  we  were  out  in  the  sun- 
shine again,  standing  beneath  the 
weather-beaten  sign  whereon  three 
faded  fishermen  fished  with  faded  rods 
in  a  faded  stream;  while  away  down 
the  road  we  could  see  Peter  already 
approaching  with  the  carriage. 

"And  now  I  suppose  you  are  going?" 
said  Lady  Warburton. 

"There  is  a  train  at  half-past  ten,"  I 
answered. 

"An'  we  are  going,  too !"  said  Dor- 
orthy. 

D   286    <3 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 

"Yes,  we're  quite  ready,  Uncle 
Dick,"  cried  the  Imp,  thrusting  his 
pistols  into  his  belt. 

"But  you  wouldn't  leave  me  all  alone, 
would  you,  children?"  asked  Lady 
Warburton,  and  there  was  a  certain 
wistfulness  in  her  sharp  face  that 
seemed  new  to  it. 

"'Course    not,"    sighed    the    Imp, 
"only 

"We  must  stay  and  take  care  of  her, 
Reginald,"  nodded  Dorothy  deci- 
sively. 

"Yes,  I'll  take  care  of  you,  Aunt,  with 
lance,  battle-axe,  an'  sword,  by  day 
an'  night,"  said  the  Imp,  "only — I 
should  have  liked  to  see  Uncle 
Dick's  wonderful  house,  with  the  real 
swords  an'  armour,  in  the  Land  of 
Heart's  Delight  —  some  day,  you 
know." 

"And  so  you  shall,"  cried  Lady  War- 
burton,   and  she  actually  stooped  to 
kiss  him,  and  then  Dorothy,   rather 
D  287  <j 


F 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


'pecky'  kisses,  perhaps,  but  very  genu- 
ine kisses  notwithstanding. 

"Richard,"  she  said,  giving  me  her 
hand,  "we  shall  come  down  to  your 
wonderful  house — all  three  of  us  next 
week,  so  be  prepared — now  be  off — 
both  of  you." 

"Then  you  forgive  me,  Aunt?" 
asked  Lisbeth,  hesitating. 

"Well,  I  don't  quite  know  yet,  Lis- 
beth; but,  my  dear,  I'll  tell  you  some- 
thing I  have  never  mentioned  to  a  liv- 
ing soul  but  you;  if  I  had  acted  forty 
years  ago  as  you  did  to-day,  I  should 
have  been  a  very  different  creature  to 
the  cross-grained  old  woman  you 
think  me.  There — there's  a  kiss,  but 
as  for  forgiving  you — that  is  quite 
another  matter;  I  must  have  time  to 
think  it  all  over.  Good-bye,  my  dear; 
and,  Richard,  fill  her  life  with  happi- 
ness, to  make  up  for  mine,  if  you  can. 
Children,  bid  good-bye  to  your  Auntie 
—and  Uncle  Dick!" 
s>  288  o 


H 


MY  LADY  CAPRICE 


^H 


"You  won't  forget  the  sword  with 
the  'deadly  point,'  will  you,  Uncle 
Dick?" 

"I  won't  forget,  my  Imp!"  Here- 
upon he  tried  to  smile,  but  his  trem- 
bling lips  refused,  and  snatching  his 
hand  from  mine  he  turned  away;  as 
for  Dorothy,  she  was  sobbing  into  the 
fur  of  the  fluffy  kitten. 

Then  I  helped  Lisbeth  aboard  The 
Jopful  Hope,  loving  her  the  more  for 
the  tears  that  gleamed  beneath  her 
long  lashes,  and  'casting  loose,'  we 
glided  out  into  the  stream. 

There  they  stood,  the  two  children, 
with  the  white-haired  figure  between 
them,  Dorothy  holding  up  the  round- 
eyed  "Louise"  for  a  parting  glimpse, 
and  the  Imp  flourishing  his  cutlass,  un- 
til a  bend  of  the  river  hid  them  from 
view. 

So  Lisbeth  and  I  sailed  on  together 
through  the  golden  morning  to  "The 
Land  of  Heart's  Delight." 

S>   28Q  <3 


£/f^    J^ 
^£2 


26683 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A    000695189     1 
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